By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
The Bucyrus Methodist Church’s Outreach Center was the place to be Thursday afternoon whether it was for school supplies, information, or to just check out the fire truck.
“Bucyrus United Methodist Church has been doing this for a number of years,” explained Randy Garrett, general chairman for the sixth annual Back-to-School Supply Carnival. “We’re supplying the basics of school supplies to children and this year is to public, parochial, and home school children who live in the village of North Robinson and west of State Route 602.”
Garrett said they had to limit who could attend this year due to the church’s limited resources.
Last year, Garrett said, they had over 1,000 people attend the carnival and they gave away 500 bags. There was such a demand that the committee had to make special runs to the Bucyrus and Upper Sandusky WalMarts for more supplies. They cleared off the shelves at both WalMarts and didn’t finish filling the bags until midnight that year.
“It’s not just giving away the basic supplies,” Garrett said. “You know, we could just take the school supplies to the kids and the parents could pass them out. But this way the kids who are financially strapped, you know they’re kind of stigmatized in school. This way they get to show up in class with their own brand new totes filled with brand new school supplies. Plus they had a good time here at our carnival.”
Garrett said children who stopped by with their parents not only received free supplies but were also given free popcorn and a free beverage. Kids could get their faces painted by Bob or Sandy Laipply from the Crawford County Arts Council or play games set up underneath a sheltering tree.
“Another thing we’ve added over the years – and it is growing – is our info fair,” Garrett said. “We invite representatives of all the social service agencies and the police, the fire, the Sheriff’s Office, the ambulance, to come and set up displays and to offer prizes and games to the kids.”
While the kids get to have fun, Garrett said the info fair also helps provide information to parents that may not accept or they may not have access to otherwise.
“That’s something I’m really thrilled at because any group that has ever come has always come back the following year, very anxiously, to repeat it,” Garrett said.
“We see all kinds of reactions and sometimes it just tears your heart out,” explained Garrett. “When you got a young mother come in and she has two, three, four kids that she has to provide school supplies for . . . to these families that are financially struggling, every little bit helps and that just makes me choke up.”
Other times Garrett can’t help laughing at the antics of the kindergarteners who just can’t wait to tear open their bag and use the supplies – usually long before school starts.
“It’s a lot of fun and I think the kids enjoy everything that we do,” Garrett said. “We love to see them and we want them to see us too and let them know that we care.”
If parents or guardians were unable to attend the Back-to-School Carnival, additional events held by various organizations will be going on throughout the county. The dates for those events are:
• Aug. 2 from 1 – 3 p.m. at the Evangelical Pietist Church (988-0204)
• Aug. 4 Heartland Community Action (call 468-5121 to set up an appointment)
• Aug. 9 9 a.m. – ? at Nevada Lutheran Church
• Aug. 10 5 – 7 p.m. at New Washington United Methodist Church for Buckeye Central students (419-492-2009)
• Aug. 13 1 – 3 p.m. at Bucyrus Salvation Army (419-562-0071)
• Aug. 16 at Bloomville United Methodist Church 24 E. New Haven St.