New London – Chelsea Damboise, mother, said preparing her four children for a new school year can be “so expensive.”
For them and many others, the weeks before the first day of school mean buying new backpacks, pens, pencils and notebooks. And they spend even more money to make their children look good – with new clothes and a new haircut.
It all adds up. But on Sunday, a local small business organized an event at Toby May Park that provided some much-needed relief to Damboise and the parents of 256 other students.
Back 2 School Bash, organized by online store Moment in Time Creations and held at the park, 611 Ocean Ave., provided children with backpacks full of school supplies, free food and free haircuts. It was the third year the event was held, said store owner Stephanie Gittens, who is also a hairdresser.
As Gittens used scissors to trim his children’s hair, he explained that the event was designed to help other parents who were struggling to fit back-to-school costs into their already tight budgets.
“I’m a mom myself,” she said. “We’ve all had those moments when we’ve had to decide what bill to pay or how to get our kids ready for school or, you know, the school supplies list and the grocery shopping.”
“And life is just – crazy right now. So I just wanted to have some kind of event where we can give back,” Gittens added.
When the event began at 1 p.m., a long line of families had already formed, waiting to run upstairs and pick up their backpacks.
These backpacks, in various designs and colors, were stacked high on a folding table. Behind them were even more stacked. There were 260 in total. Many of them were donated in the weeks leading up to the event, others were monetary donations that Gittens used to buy supplies.
Damboise and her family, who arrived 15 minutes early and got second in line, were among the first to reach the backpack table and pick out theirs. She and other parents said the backpacks and supplies are a huge financial help.
Josh Moore, Damboise’s boyfriend and father of one of her children, said the cost of purchasing the back-to-school supplies is about $50 per child.
“This is a positive action,” Damboise said, shortly after helping her children choose four different backpacks. “And it’s good for us. Because we get backpacks. And you know, right now it’s so expensive. It’s so expensive. Everything is so expensive.”
The two said the backpacks – which were stuffed with folders, notebooks, rulers, markers, colored pencils, crayons, toothpaste and toothbrush, hand sanitizer and socks – were very helpful. Damboise added that the backpack would last her children “the entire school year.”
“That’s perfect,” she added.
Sammy Colon of Groton agreed, right after helping his five-year-old daughter pick out a colorful backpack.
Sammy was happy that he was able to save some money at a time when his daughter Liana, who is starting kindergarten this year, also has other needs, such as new clothes.
The back-to-school event, he said, “helps tremendously.”
Liana was equally excited about returning to school and her new backpack.
“This is beautiful stuff,” said daughter Liana. “Pink and rainbows.”
By 1:40 p.m. the first rush had ended and the children were wandering around the playground with their favorite foods. Families were sitting at neighboring tables eating pizza.
In the shade of Gittens’ barber tent, Lebanon resident Mariah Haley had just watched her two daughters, 4-year-old Addilyn and 3-year-old Emersyn, get their first free haircuts. The two and their 8-year-old son, Brantley, were already receiving backpacks.
“It definitely helps us prepare for the upcoming school year,” Mariah Haley said. “And of course, it all brings the community together, too. That’s really nice to see.”
While Mariah held out her phone, Addilyn looked at the photo of herself with the new haircut and smiled, then ran off to get her face painted.
Another part of the event was face painting. Gittens wanted it to be fun and not just look like a charity event, so there was also pizza and music.
“We never wanted it to feel like you had to stand in line and get that black bag and look like everyone else,” she said. “We wanted it to just look like a (normal) event that helps parents at the same time.”
Haley, whose three children will all be attending school for the first time, meanwhile said she has been able to relieve some of the stress caused by the question of paying school bills.
“Everything is so expensive that it’s hard to keep up,” Haley said. “So events like this are just additional support for resources that we would need to, you know, get for our kids.”
