Backpack giveaway helps 500 children
By Sierra Henry
Published in News on August 7, 2018 5:50 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Lawanda Hall helps children pick out book bags during the annual Bring Back the Unity Family Day at the Masonic Lodge on Beale Street.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Georgia Moody, Shawn Locus and Joyce Holloway prepare plates during the annual Bring Back the Unity Family Day and book bag giveaway.
Nearly 500 book bags were given away to school-aged children by the Mary Wooten Harvey Foundation during the annual Bring Back the Unity Family Day Saturday.
The event, coordinated by the Mary Wooten Harvey Foundation and the Destiny Intellect Skills 4U, was an effort to unite the community and help children who may otherwise not have the ability to have book bags and supplies at the start of the school year.
"This is the fourth year I've been involved in any capacity with book-bag giveaways, but there's a lot of kids that are ill-prepared for the start of the school year," said Bobby Harvey, president of the Mary Wooten Harvey Foundation.
More than 300 people attended the event at the Masonic Lodge on Beale Street where free food, Italian ice and music were offered throughout the day.
Families with children who needed book bags were able to pick up a bag from the foundation. Some organizations and families volunteered to deliver bags to families and children who did not have transportation to the event.
"For the most part, 80 percent of the bags that were given away were handed to a child that was physically in attendance," Harvey said.
Harvey has been involved in several book bag giveaways over the past several years but decided this year that the foundation would try to coordinate one large event for the community.
"We decided that instead of having multiple book bag drives like we did in the past, we should pool our resources and just come together as a community because that's really what our goal is -- to create unity in the community and to get to know the people in the community," he said.
The Mary Wooten Harvey Foundation is planning to coordinate with the Goldsboro Housing Authority to help 10 children purchase school supplies and new school clothes. Harvey said he plans to provide each child with $100 for supplies and clothing. He also plans to take the children shopping before the start of the school year.
"We're just trying to find the kids that are really in need, make sure they've got school supplies, a little bit of clothes -- you know, so they can really feel it's the beginning of the school year," Harvey said.
"We don't want any kids feeling left out ... because they don't have book bags like the other kids."