The Summer ended with a blast by kicking off the 2022-2023 Bloomfield Public Schools District School year, Save Our Schools for Our Kids Foundation, Duncaster and Staples came together over the Labor Day Holiday weekend with the support and steadfast leadership of former Mayor and Town Councilwoman Suzette DeBeatham-Brown to sponsor and host its second annual Back-to-School Backpack & Schools Supplies Festival Extravaganza at the Rockwell Avenue/Bill Lee Fields in Bloomfield.
Over five hundred children, parents, grandparents, foster parents, aunts, uncles, and guardians joined their children for a family day of hot dogs and hamburgers, endless bouncy house play, face painting, frisbee, hula-hoops, dance contests, and music by Hot 93.7’s DJ Bigg Mann. Also, present enjoying the day and supporting the event was Town Councilman Rickford Kirton and his family.
Something was exciting for everyone as Save Our Schools raffled off a griddle, waffle, and panini-maker. Parents and children ran to the stage to put in their raffle tickets to win trips to Mexico, 3 and 7-day cruises, trimmers, restaurant discount coupons, hotel stays and roundtrip airfares, and more. A boy and girl dance-off contest winner took home a special backpack full of toys, games, and school supplies. One boy who won a mini waffle maker said he could not cook, but his Foster Mom said she would show him how.
Our expectations were exceeded this year,” said Donald L. Greene, Jr. Founder, Save Our Schools for Our Kids Foundation. “We had to cancel our original August 26th date due to the severe thunderstorms and rescheduled the date to Saturday, September 3rd knowing in our hearts there are hundreds of children from the town of Bloomfield and on the Hartford periphery that still needed backpacks and schools’ supplies. Overcoming some distractions, we were steadfast in support from the Bloomfield Board of Education (Thank you Stacey McCann), boots-to-the-ground promotion, and media that drew 500+ this past Saturday. We can’t thank Duncaster led by CEO Kelly Smith Papa enough for believing in us, but mostly our children and the cause of education and meeting the needs of children and families. A special shout out to Tiffany Smith and her team for seeing this through with us.”
Save Our Schools sincerely thanks Town Councilman Kenneth McClary for first responding to the social media post request for help. Thanks to Mayor Danielle Wong and Town Councilman Anthony Harrington for adding to the support. A big highlight of the day was the Bloomfield High School Football, players. These scholar-athletes stayed the entire day! They help Save Our Schools set up and run the day-long programs feeding the children, supporting the backpack
logistics with Town Councilwoman DeBeatham-Brown and the raffles. Thank you to our amazing photographer intern for Famiglia D'Oro TV Kaylah Dillon, A-Team Andrea Sanders, and the team hired.
Save Our Schools was pleased to work with Connecticut DCF to attract foster children to the event. Duncaster is committed to further reaching the Bloomfield community of color and building relationships. Residents from the African American, Caribbean, Bangladesh, Asian Indian, and white Communities were present. Kids were playing together.
Over the last two years, Save Our Schools has provided backpacks and school supplies to over 2,500 students and families in Connecticut and eight hundred in Bloomfield alone.
Save Our Schools will be back next year. For more information about Save Our Schools for Our Kids Foundation and how you can become involved, please visit https://www.saveourschools4ourkids.com.
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