Skylyn Smith, 5, is all smiles as she hugs her new book bag while her mother Keyosha Boykin takes selfies to capture their smiles and the book bag. More than 300 students received new book bags packed with school supplies Saturday, Aug. 19, during the 13th annual Back-to-School Celebration and Free Book Bag Giveaway sponsored by the Men of Faith, Integrity and Character. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
Mia Sauno, 8, a student at Brogden Primary School in Dudley, checks the school supplies packed into her new book bag. More than 300 students received new book bags packed with school supplies Saturday, Aug. 19, during the 13th annual Back-to-School Celebration and Free Book bag Giveaway at Nelson Street Park sponsored by the Men of Faith, Integrity and Character. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
Al Southerland, left, Men of Faith, Integrity and Character president, and Barbara Kornegay of the Rotary Club of Mount Olive pull a winning ticket during a raffle Saturday, Aug. 19, during the 13th annual Back-to-School Celebration and Free Book bag Giveaway sponsored by the Men of Faith, Integrity and Character. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
Volunteers add school supplies to book bags Saturday, Aug. 19, during the 13th annual Back-to-School Celebration and Free Book bag Giveaway at Nelson Street Park sponsored by the Men of Faith, Integrity and Character. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
To help speed up the process, children were given a colored wrist band and they lined up according to its color during the Saturday, Aug. 19, during the 13th annual Back-to-School Celebration and Free Book bag Giveaway at Nelson Street Park sponsored by the Men of Faith, Integrity and Character. Color flags showed the children where to line up. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com).
Rides on the Mount Olive Parks and Recreation Department Pickle Train was a popular attraction Saturday, Aug. 19, during the 13th annual Back-to-School Celebration and Free Book Bag Giveaway at Nelson Street Park sponsored by the Men of Faith, Integrity and Character. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
Sisters Elena Yac, 5, foreground, and Jessica Yac, 6, students at B.F. Grady, wait in line for school supplies form their new book bags. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
Marcia Whitley, founder of All the King’s Children, addresses the crowd Saturday, Aug. 19, during the 13th annual Back-to-School Celebration and Free Book bag Giveaway at Nelson Street Park sponsored by the Men of Faith, Integrity and Character. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
Skylyn Smith, 5, was all smiles as she tightly hugged her new book bag bulging with school supplies. Skylyn, who will start kindergarten at Carver Elementary School, sat on a bench next to her mother Keyosha Boykin who was smiling as well as she took selfies to capture their smiles and the prized book bag.
Across the playground, Mia Sauno, 8, a student at Brogden Primary School in Dudley, sat on the ground as she opened her new book bag and began pulling out it contents to see all the school supplies.
The two children were among the more than 300 students who received new book bags packed with school supplies Saturday, Aug. 19, during the 13th annual Back-to-School Celebration and Free Book Bag Giveaway sponsored by the Men of Faith, Integrity and Character.
Held from 4 p.m. to 7 at Nelson Street Park, all children attending from kindergarten through the eighth grade received a book bag with school supplies. Hygiene kit were provided by All the Kings Children.
Free food and games were provided, too.
The Rotary Club of Mount Olive and First Pentecostal Holiness Church participated and the Mount Olive Parks and Recreation Department Pickle Train gave free rides.
To help speed up the process, children were given a colored wrist band and lined up according to its color.
Connie Wells of the Rones Chapel Area Community Center provided information in English and Spanish about the nonpropfit’s tutoring programs.
“I walked around, ate some watermelon and watched the kids play and got my daughter a book bag,” Boykin said. “We enjoyed ourselves. It is a good program because some kids, they aren’t able to get (a book bag) and it is helping some moms out. But I enjoyed myself. She enjoyed herself. She is happy about her book bag. Everybody is happy.
“I have never seen so many people out here. It was nice. They got through the lines with the book bags quickly. I like the way they had it organized. It is the first time they have done the book bag line like that and they moved quicker. I like that. We come every year.”
Just over 300 book bags were given out in the park, said Al Southerland, of the founders of Men of FIC.
“We had a great turnout today,” Southerland said. “We set up for 500 (book bags). That first year we had close to 50 (book bags), but we didn’t have near as much supplies.”
The remaining book bags and supplies were taken to Brogden Middle School in Dudley, Mount Olive Middle School, Spring Creek Elementary School and Spring Creek Middle Schools near Seven Springs, Brogden Primary School, Grantham Elementary School at Grantham, Carver Elementary School and North Duplin Elementary School at Calypso.
“I don’t know about you, but I had had fun today,” Southerland told the crowd. “I would just like to say to our children, go and have fun, but learn everything that you can. OK? That reading and that writing and that math, let’s go back and do good.
“We are just glad everybody came out. It was a nice day. First Pentecostal Holiness, we couldn’t do it without them. Over there we are registering people for the Little Mr. Men of FIC that we are going to have.”
It is the ninth year that All the King’s Children provided personal hygiene kits, said Marcia Umphlette Whitley, the nonprofit’s founder.
“We incorporated in 2014, like that March I believe, and we believe we started that August,” she said. “So this will be nine years. We just saw the good that they did in the community and it was just a good way to partner with somebody who already was doing something instead of reinventing the wheel.
“That is why we came up with the personal care — school supplies, they had that covered. That is kind of what All the King’s Children does anyway — fill in the gaps, things that aren’t being done putting resources into the hands of people who need it.”
