For my community service hours I helped with the backpack drive held on July 25th 2019. The backpack drive is held every year towards the end of summer. It is organized by the community but I was connected through the LiveWell Community Health Coalition. The motive for this drive is to provide low income students with school supplies for the upcoming school year. Prior to this event, I also assisted with the collection of school supplies. I also collaborated with LiveWell for this project. I was stationed at the Neighborhood Walmart where they had a project called Stuff The Bus. At this center shoppers were provided with a list of supplies that were needed and were free to pick what they wanted to donate. During the four hours I was there I was impressed with how many supplies were donated from people from the community. Also, Walmart had a sale on school supplies during the day of the collection which empowered the customers to purchase more supplies for less. During the day of the drive, I was moved to see the high activity and the high level of energy from all the volunteers. I was not able to take pictures during that day because I was not sure it was appropriate however, I have attached pictures from an article from the Garden City paper that was taken while I was there assisting families get their supplies. I have another picture from the previous year as an example of the diversity and the number of people that attend every year(this also came from the Garden City Telegram from 2018). Hundreds of families were able to pick up their school supplies and it was moving to see the happy faces when children received their backpacks. This project ensures that every child comes prepared to learn and members of the community find this as an opportunity to give back. Families from the community have more money left to purchase clothes and food for their children. We are proud to have this service in Finney County. As a young child I had received school supplies from this project myself, this year it was a great experience to be on the other side providing the backpacks to children.
