Butler Area elementary students equipped with all they need to succeed
The Butler Bureau of Fire’s aerial truck gave kids a ride to 15 feet above ground, but the love at the KidzEquipped Summerfest on Friday, Aug. 11, reached to the sky.
The third annual event, held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Broad Street Elementary School, is a program of Inspired Hearts and Hands of Mars. Butler Area School District partners with the group to put on the event.
More than 750 students from Broad Street, Emily Brittain and McQuistion elementary schools and their parents signed up at three tables along the sidewalk outside Broad Street School to receive tickets to get new clothing, socks and underwear, shoes, coats, backpacks and lunchboxes, plus a box of nonperishable food containing five or six easy-to-prepare meals, a hot lunch of hot dogs and hamburgers, chips, drinks and Dairy Queen treats at the event.
There was no cost to families for anything, thanks to the hard work of the more than 840 volunteers who prepared all year for and work the event.
Vanessa Boyd, principal at Broad Street Elementary, said holding a celebratory back-to-school event that provides families with the items that will decrease the stress of returning to school coincides with her motto, “You have to treat before your teach.”
“Building community is the core of our culture, so we make sure everyone has what they need for school,” Boyd said. “We don’t ask questions. We just provide opportunities for all.”
She said 75% of the Broad Street faculty and staff volunteered at the event.
“They understand the assignment,” Boyd said. “They are doing all they can to sustain and maintain the culture of our school.”
The gymnasium at Broad Street School was filled Friday with racks of new clothing of all colors, themes and sizes to be selected by the students.
An Inspired Hearts and Hands clothing drive provided the 8,900 pieces of clothing for the event.
Elizabeth Whitmire, who brought her daughter, Emerald, 11, to KidzEquipped, said the event empowers students.
“It benefits all the kids because they get to come in and feel important and pick the clothes and shoes they are going to actually wear,” Whitmire said.
Emerald, who will be a fifth-grader at Emily Brittain Elementary this fall, didn’t take long to name her favorite item of clothing chosen Friday.
“Probably jammies,” she said.
Karyel Heard, 11, was excited about the clothes she picked out.
“My favorite is probably my pink sweater and green pants,” Karyel said.
She marveled at all the hard work the grown-ups at Inspired Hearts and Hands did in putting on KidzEquipped.
“They care a lot about kids,” Karyel said.
Her little brother, Ty’Ron Heard, 5, chose clothing to wear to kindergarten this year, where he hopes to learn to write his name, study math, hear stories and play.
“I got a lot of shirts,” Ty’Ron said. “One has dinosaurs.”
After choosing clothing, the families got in a line that snaked through the school to the other end, where they picked from more than 1,000 pairs of shoes, more than 1,000 each of socks and underwear, 750 backpacks full of school supplies, and more than 1,000 winter coats.
Outside in the playground, families could enjoy a hot lunch, pick up their box of nonperishable food, take a short ride in the bucket of the fire department’s aerial truck, enjoy the playground, and peruse the dozens of booths set up in a huge square.
Capt. Tom Fair of the Butler Bureau of Fire ensured no one hit their head on the boom of the aerial truck when the delighted passengers were lowered back to the ground.
He said it’s important for the city firefighters to interact with the children in the neighborhoods they cover so that if they are involved in an emergency, they will see a familiar, friendly face.
“It helps them through a bad experience,” said Fair, who grew up in the Broad Street neighborhood and attended the school until second grade, when he transferred to Emily Brittain while Broad Street Elementary was renovated.
The booths offered various services to families, who could chat with those manning the booths while their children enjoyed a game, snack or other item.
A dentist, the Epilepsy Foundation, Children’s Advocacy Center, Aramark, The Lighthouse Foundation, Center for Community Resources, Butler County Drug & Alcohol and Lifesteps were just a few of the booths set up on the playground.
Andrea Soto, 10, summed up the thoughts of all the families who attended KidzEquipped Summerfest.
“They’re kind,” Andrea said of those who organized the event. “I know what I know.”
