ANSONVILLE — Fun abounded at Ansonville’s well attended Back-To-School Community Involvement Day celebration held Saturday at Ansonville Baptist Church.
Held for the last eight years in Ansonville, Sarah Burns with the Caraway Foundation Business and Learning Center, said the annual event has been a staple in the lives of Anson County students for the past twelve years with no sign of stopping.
As a heavily relied upon area tradition, students can always expect to leave this family fun farewell to summer with a free book bag full of much needed school supplies. The event is a boon for not only financially strapped families, but also teachers struggling to ensure their students have continued access to supplies throughout the school year.
Sandwiched between school supplies and concessions, were many participating local businesses and non-profit organizations. Anson County’s Partnership for Children had free books available for a range of reading levels while T-Mobile and Union County’s Community Action Inc. Headstart/Early Head Start organization provided attendees with education literature.
“We strive to offer comprehensive childcare service for pregnant mothers through children up to age 5,” said Kishi Tillman of Union County’s Community Action Inc. Headstart/Early Head Start organization, whose organization serves Union, Anson and Richmond counties.
Elizabeth Rizzo, Executive Director of the Anson County Partnership for Children, and Scott Rivers braved the hazy morning heat to hand out a variety of free literary offerings for students to choose from, including titles such as Let’s Go Camping, The Little Red Hen, and Stay Alive.
“Improving literacy is all about getting a book in their hands,” says Rizzo.
New Rural Project’s Jarvis Pegues, Anson County organizer, and Kia Smith, Program Asst. for Anson and Union Counties, shared registration information with potential voters. In addition to getting out the vote, New Rural Project dedicates itself to being Anson County’s source for medicaid information and healthcare resources. Organizers with the project travel to various events throughout the area, offering citizens education materials on resource programs they might not realize are available to them.
“The most important thing I want people in the community to know is we are right now canvassing the area, knocking on doors in every district in the county. We want to reach out to make all aware of their civic duty to vote, to encourage them to get involved in the decision making process for themselves, and be informed,” Pegues said.
Smith agreed.
“We are seeing more youth registering to vote this election cycle. We are working to reconnect the community, to find out not just what people want in their community, but what they need… the conversations they want to have,” Smith said.
Members of the community convict re-entry program were present to hand out fresh cut watermelon slices with a smile. Several members of the group spent the long hot summer bringing order back to the grounds of the former prison, now the site of Anson’s new 5 & 2 Trade School, through their landscaping efforts.
A first of its kind for the nation, the 5 & 2 Trade School is a renovated prison and its student body is made up of children who have an incarcerated parent. The school will offer culinary, automotive, farming, and training in a myriad of other occupations. Students will live and learn on site.
Jason Padgett says of the re-entry program that for him, “It is all about finding a better way, looking for ways to volunteer and serve.”
Holla! Development Center, in partnership with NC Counts Coalition is holding Morven’s Back-To-School Celebration on Saturday, August 24 from noon until 2 p.m.