Organizers for the Southeast Denton Back-2-School Fair need a little help to meet their goal of distributing 1,200 backpacks.
This year’s fair is planned from 9 a.m. to noon Aug. 11 at Denton’s Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center, and a recent count showed they were 300 backpacks short of their goal.
The annual event helps schoolchildren from low-income households start off the school year on a positive note, said Jackie Sasser, the fair’s coordinator.
“If we can help some of the less fortunate to feel good about themselves, that’s what it’s all about,” she told us.
We don’t have to tell you that a donated backpack means a lot more to these kids than just having a way to carry their books.
There’s a certain confidence factor for students who can walk into a classroom and have the same supplies as their peers, said Kevin Roden, City Council member for District 1, which includes Southeast Denton.
“This is a great confidence booster,” he told us.
And it’s a way to help that’s within the reach of just about everyone. For the price of a backpack, you may be able to make the future a little brighter for a needy youngster.
“Education is the No. 1 way for people to break out of the cycle of poverty,” Roden said. “The No. 1 thing a community can do is rally around kids to get a good education. We’re all affected by the education of our kids.”
Last year’s fair assisted 1,200 Denton County schoolchildren. Organizers say that while assistance is available for all of the county’s schoolchildren, they expect that the majority of those helped will be elementary school students.
Sasser said students must be present at the fair to receive a backpack. Children who attend will also be eligible for other giveaways.
For the first time, children who attend the fair will be administered free eye exams, and if needed, free glasses will be made onsite at a mobile eye clinic, Sasser said. Parents and guardians must accompany children to the eye clinic and present identification.
Sasser said pre-registration for the free event got under way in May and has continued throughout the summer. In addition to assisting those who have already registered, fair organizers will look to assist as many low-income families with supplies as possible, she said.
“We don’t want any child to be left behind,” Sasser said.
Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen by pitching in to help organizers of the Southeast Denton Back-2-School Fair meet their goal.
Backpack donations can be dropped off at the Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center, located at 1300 Wilson St., or North Texas Hospital at 2801 S. Mayhill Road. For more information, call 940-349-8575 or 940-220-0604.
