With school starting Friday, August 2, for Habersham County Schools, the Habersham County school resource officers (SRO) provided school supplies and book bags, just in time.
The event was held Monday, July 29, beginning at 10 a.m. and concluded at 2 p.m. at the Habersham County fairgrounds.
At 9:45 a.m., nearly 100 people had lined up to receive much needed supplies for the first day of school, all for free.
Receiving donations
The Habersham County SROs have been receiving and collecting school supplies and book bags for over a month for this event. They had a collection point set up in the parking lot for three Fridays in a row with one of their community partners, Chick-fil-A. They set up in the parking lot on a fourth Friday with another community partner, Walmart.
Sergeant Brittany Hallman is the supervisor over the SRO program with Habersham County Schools and is also an SRO at the Ninth Grade Academy. She said this was a way to give back to the community. “This is a large way for us to give back to our community and to our kids before we go back to school and they see us in the hallways.”
For the SROs, part of doing this is just seeing the joy on the kids’ faces when they get to pick out their school supplies and get to pick out the color of their book bag is worth it. “We get the satisfaction of helping these kids,” Hallman says. She adds, “I mean, these kids become part of our families and part of our kids.”
Appreciation during tough times
Mika Hardman of Demorest attended the event with her children. Braxton and Maevea Moore, because, “We needed help with the school supplies for my kids.” Both children will be attending Level Grove Elementary School. She was appreciative of the event. “It’s amazing,” she said. “It absolutely helps us so much.”
Hardman had a message for the Habersham County SROs, “Thank you for helping those who truly need help.”
Leigh Lipkin of Mt. Airy brought her family to get school supplies as well. She said that the high cost of supplies is what brought her family to the event. “Well, the cost of everything is so high nowadays, this helps deter some of the cost for school supplies.”
Lipkin said that this event was about giving. “The community gives back just like we teach our Girl Scouts that we always give back to the community.”
She also had a message for the Habersham County SROs. “Thank you for always keeping our children safe.”
The SROs were prepared for students to come through the line to receive school supplies for the upcoming school year. Within a 45 minute time period, they had served at least 150 students. However, parents and students continued to trickle in.
By 11 a.m., most of the students and parents that were in line early had received school supplies and were in line to pick up various small school supplies from community outreach organizations. Those on hand were Circle of Hope, Volunteers For Literacy, North Georgia Technical College, and Peach State Health Plan.
Hallman said that last year the SROs prepared about 600 students for school. She hoped they would exceed that number this year.
