Summerfest helps fill students’ needs
More than 200 families went back-to-school shopping Tuesday, where they picked out shoes, clothing and even food to prepare for the imminent start of the school year.
But the racks of clothing and stacks of shoeboxes weren’t in a department store or shop, but in the gymnasium of Broad Street Elementary School, where dozens of volunteers helped students find outfits in their size — all free of charge.
Tuesday was the second annual Summerfest in the Butler Area School District, which the nonprofit Inspired Hearts and Hands organized to fill needs of students at Broad Street, Emily Brittain and McQuistion elementary schools.
The event also featured nearly 20 community organizations, which Mindy Schnitgen, founder and owner of Inspired Hearts and Hands, said were present to help build the community in the district.
“We didn’t want to do this just for a select group of people, we wanted to make sure we could do it for everyone,” Schnitgen said. “We went to find where the greatest need was.”
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