BURLINGTON, Ky. — Families gathered at One Hope Church in Burlington on Saturday to support community members with back-to-shool preparations. Worship Leader Joetta Browning, also an educator, said each year the church tries to help tackle that school supply list. 

What You Need To Know

  • One Hope Church handed out backpacks filled with supplies on Saturday

  • The church has done this the last few years to help community members

  • Worship leader Joetta Browning, an educator herself, said there’s a big need this year with the rising cost of supplies

  • Kids could come pick out a backpack filled with supplies and clothes

“Kinda look at all the area schools for their supply list and try to get the majority of the things on that list,” Browning said.

The church then takes supplies and fills backpacks with them to hand out to families, free of charge. Kate Bise helped hand out these backpacks and other supplies. Bise said she’s helping fill backpacks with supplies to help her peers.

“You can find glue sticks, highlighters and a lot more things you think you’d need for school,” she said.

Bise said she loves helping other kids in the community out. It’s important to make sure you’re ready for that first day back.

“So you have all the stuff you need so you’re ready to learn,” Bise said.

Browning knows times are tough, and school supplies aren’t cheap.

“Stuff is hard. It’s really hard right now for a lot of people,” she said.

That’s why the church is doing this — to help ensure that success and also help kids pick out something fun to feel they belong.

“When they have the cool earbuds or cool backpack and they have the colored pencils — being an educator, I got a bag of just funny erasers, you know little things like that — it makes them feel a part of the classroom which is just half the battle of making sure we take that barrier away,” Browning said. 

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