By: Dean Johnson, Follow South Jersey Editor-in-Chief
SALEM, N.J. – Community Promise Academy with the support from Give Something Back and Stand Up For Salem, hosted a Back-to-School Bash on Monday, August 19 to help local families and kids get ready for a strong start to the new school year.
The event, held in the courtyard next to the Stand Up For Salem building at the corner of Walnut and East Broadway, distributed hundreds of student book bags containing school supplies including notebooks, pencils, pens, markers, glue sticks, calculators, and more.
With over 225 pre-registered for the event, many more children and families were expected.
“Back-to-School Bash provides school supplies to children that are not only in our program but in the community in general,” Kina Nichols, Program Coordinator for Hopeloft, said. Hopeloft is the parent non-profit organization for Community Promise Academy.
Nichols also said that the event works as a recruitment event for the Community Promise Academy which provides afterschool and summer programming for children.
Throughout the school year and summer, the program has had about 75 participants. “We’re growing,” Nichols said, “we’re definitely growing. Over the summer we had 20 or 25 more kids sign up.”
Brian Halfen, Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA) Assistant Manager for Local 77, brought along 50 backpacks to donate as well as 8 union members to help with the distribution of the school supplies.
“It’s an opportunity to get out to help kids get a leg up,” Halfen said. “They might be members in the future.”
Halfen said that LiUNA participates annually in different communities. They donated 50 bookbags and labor to support the event.
Kristen Buckley was there with her three kids.
“It’s very beneficial to be given the school supplies,” Buckley said. “It helps with our low income, and with three kids, costs have gone up.”
Buckley said that she was also happy that the kids could also have some fun in the bouncy house.
Community Promise Academy held a similar event at the Hopeloft building on East Commerce Street in Bridgeton on Sunday, August 18 where children were able to have breakfast provided by Century Bakery and lunch from Pop’s Chicken Box in Bridgeton.
With music provided by DJ Gary, a local deejay, the crowd enjoyed talking with neighbors and a pizza lunch from Pat’s Pizza and Bistro as the children danced to the music and jumped around in the bouncy house provided by Stand Out From the Crowd rentals.
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