LAFAYETTE PARISH — LAFAYETTE, La. — Hundreds of families gathered Sunday afternoon at Next Level Lafayette Bicycle Club for a back-to-school supply drive hosted by Acts of Care and the Lafayette Housing Authority. Organizers handed out hundreds of backpacks filled with school essentials to help students prepare for the new academic year.
Rows of bright blue, red and pink backpacks lined tables as families arrived for the giveaway. Organizers said they had more than 300 backpacks available, each stocked with notebooks, pencils, paper, crayons and other classroom supplies. They said more than 350 backpacks were distributed within the first five minutes of the event.
Organizers said the annual giveaway is about more than providing supplies — it's about helping students begin the school year with confidence.
"We have over 300 backpacks today, and it's just important to give back and have the kids start school with confidence," Shantell Miller, the founder of Acts of Care said. "Giving back just really motivates me to do things for others."
For Joseph Fitch III, a disabled veteran and father of six with another child on the way, the event helped ease the financial strain of preparing multiple children for school.
"Me having four girls and two boys, six altogether and one on the way, is pretty expensive," Fitch said. "Especially for being a disabled vet. I do my best to make everything stretch."
Acts of Care partnered with the Lafayette Housing Authority and Next Level Lafayette to host the giveaway. Organizers said the goal was to reduce some of the financial burden families face during the back-to-school season while ensuring children have the supplies they need to succeed in the classroom.
"If we can lighten the load just a little bit, just make it a little less hard, then we've done our job," Miller said.
Lafayette Housing Authority Ross Coordinator Aereia Tisby said giving back is deeply personal because she remembers not always having the supplies she needed growing up.
"The little girl in me that sometimes didn't have school supplies — to be able to give back means the world to me," Tisby said.
In addition to receiving backpacks and school supplies, families enjoyed snowballs, hot dogs and cold drinks while children picked out their backpacks ahead of the new school year.
Organizers said they hope to continue hosting the back-to-school giveaway each year to support local families and help students begin the school year ready to learn.
