PACK THE BACKPACKS

Good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome, welcome, welcome. It's sunny, but it's not warm, but we're warm here in the studio today. We've got our guests here from pack to backpacks, and we are underway with our community connection and it's brought to you in part by Wesley and Kitty College, also Arnold Moore and Knee Camp at Funeral Home and Tall Grass Botors. We have Shelley and Carol back for more. Are we doing, ladies, We're doing great.

We have bingo coming up big yep, So January twenty fifth at Saint Luke's Episcopal Church. We'll have the doors open at five thirty pm and then the games will start at six. Tickets are twelve dollars and we'll have ten games of bingo plus fifty to fifty games. And we'll also have food for and we're gonna have dessert auctions.

Ooh, dessert auction. There you go. You know this time of the year where you kind of need a little dessert, you know, just kind of fuel the engine a little bit. Now, Carol, this is gonna be a lot of fun. Tell us a little bit about pack the backpacks and how this benefits what you're going to be doing.

Yes, we've been doing this for around twenty four years at least I've been involved with it with that long and we usually do. We've been in recent years helping around twenty five hundred students in Washington County and that goes from head start to twelfth grade. So it's all the schools in Washington County plus Osh Hills and Bowering which are feeder schools to Washington County. So and we supply what the teacher needs and in the backpack, oh.

Yeah, you know they'll tell you to give you a little slip of paper. You know, this is what you need to start school. And some bambilings are going yep on it. Some are like going, well, wait a second, and I've been in that family. Wait a second. So this is a great program.

We like all the students to start out like everyone else. You know, they have their backpack with all the supplies, and the teachers really appreciate and they don't have to buy the supplies.

Sure, and the unique thing about us is that we feel each backpack based on the school and the grade that the kid is in, and that way they're getting the supplies needed exactly for their classes.

So, Shelly, you guys and gals have this down to a science. Now, Yes, I mean it's pretty much plug and play, isn't it.

Definitely. We're a well oiled machine.

And so when you get ready to start loading up the backpacks, everybody knows their job. And also new volunteers are quickly trained that year.

That's right, and this is a year round project.

It's not just you know, the up in August and let's do it now.

We buy supplies all year round. Lounge for the best spy, So we really do. We're really careful with our money.

Well that's a good thing to know, because you know, when folks make donations, they want to know, you know, how much is that. Well, there's no administrative cost. It goes straight back to the kids, exactly.

That's right.

Nobody makes a penny doing this.

We're working, that's for sure.

We're working for love. That's what we're working for. And now, if somebody wants to be a volunteer for a Washington County school, Supply Drive aka back to Backpacks. How do we go about that?

They can message us on our Facebook page which is under Washington County School Supply Drive, or they can message us on our website which is pack Backpacks dot org.

Alrighty, And when it comes to donations, I'm going to talk to Carol because she's the treasure.

That's right.

If somebody's got a thousand dollars bill it is itching to get rid of. Can they do that to your cause? I meant they could.

If they want to send a check, they can send it to our PO box which is here in Bartosfield. It's two zero three one Post office box. And you can go to our website which is the Pack the Backpacks with an s dot org. And you can donate on online online too, or you can get our the address and mail us to check.

Well. That's a wonderful deal. It makes it pretty easy. And of course, like you say, you're out shopping year round looking for the best bargains in order to get those backpacks filled. Now, let's get back to the fun part of fundraising, which is the bingo, and that is coming up Saturday, January twenty fifth at Saint Luke's Episcopal Church can open up the doors at five point thirty, So our bay get cozy companies, swap outies and then

Definitely we'll have food for sale. We're gonna have fruit of chili pies from Prices meat Market, and then we'll have a popcorn and baked goods for sale.

Now anything kind of special with the bingo are we gonna have some special games.

We'll have fifty to fifty games, and then your ticket will get you the ten core games that we normally have, and then we'll have a blackout game at the end for a grand prize.

Now this is this is something that Susie does in our house. She does all that. She'll you come home, go whoo, or she said, oh well we had a good time. Yeah exactly, But never fails. If there's a game, she's there and our seventeen year old gets a kick out of just watching. Yes, I get the feeling that she's gonna get mama's jones for bingo before too long. But it's always it's always a lot of fun in our house, and we are active participants. You know, they go out and do the fun. I make sure that

And I don't know what prices will have because Shelley's in charge of the prizes. Oh, so for each game, you will get a little.

Like a little card, a little raster we'll have We're gonna have ten baskets and and ten gift cards to local businesses.

Wonderful. That's a great way to kind of spread it all around.

Yeah, we like to support our community with our prizes. So so that way you can come back and find a local place you might not have been to yet.

That's a great idea. And they get to kind of share in all this exactly. My goodness, sanks. So once again Washington County School supply Drive. And it's one of those things where you guys have been synonymously known as the backpacks. Yeah, but put it all together, it's a wonderful thing. Now you're an educator, and you know it's got to do a teacher's heart good to see a kid.

Now, several years ago, we had a teacher come and tell us that that was the first year where everybody had supplies. Oh wow, And we have we have two teachers on our board, and we have lots of teachers that come and volunteer too.

Say, really, I've got one teacher at Dewey Schools and one at Kenney Valley.

And of course they can kind of give you maybe your heads up on what's coming up.

They do, and they gave us kind of hints on supplies, and especially for the high school, there's what they need, because.

You know, anymore, I think I'd be lost if I went back to high school at this day and age. I just don't think that that would work. I'm glad I went to school when I went to school, because I see some of the stuff that our senior comes home with, and I'm okay, all right, I have to take a plause. It's not that I feel silly or anything. It just that seems like I remember that like second year in college, and then you know, they're zooming up and they're doing a lot of things that you know,

Yes, yes, we we try to make sure that when you're applying for backpacks, but it's more anonymous when you're getting your backpacks. We don't have the kids that may volunteer with packing backpacks put the names on the backpack, so that way when they're picking them up, they still

I think I saw you at that celebrate giving thing that was down at the end. Yes, you guys had fun.

We participate in that is.

It was great. You had the little bus there to stop and I hope it got it did It looked like it was well on its way when I put something in, so that that was a really neat little thing you did.

Yeah, we really appreciate Kawana's then a big support for us, uh.

Huh, and that is really something cool. So once again in Saturday, January the twenty fifth, twenty fifth, or being silly, Saint Luke's Episcopal Church, if they're at five thirty gets your spot, their base got there's lucky spot. I've known that there's a little bit of that going on there too. But thirties when the door is open and the games begin and earnest at six and the ticket's throwing twelve dollars, only twelve dollars. This is a bargain, yep.

And we're a little different from normal or from other beingos in that we don't charge a different price at the door, So you can either buy ahead or at the door, either will be the same price.

So we can do that online to the Facebook.

Message us on Facebook, get someone in touch with you, or if you know any of our board members can sell tickets to them, or they can just buy them.

At the door, right easy.

And I wanted to say, if you're new to town, Saint Luke's is kind of downtown at eighth and Dewey.

Yes it is. It is. It's really easy to find, so make sure that you get there and plenty of time, and make sure that you come a little hungry too, because freedo pies are just calling my name right.

Oh yeah, it's great, great for this kind of weather.

Yes, it is an electric carbuation. Baby, there you go. So once again this all goes to Washington County School Supply, also known as Back the Pack Packs. Carol Shelley, thank you both for being in here today. Thanks for braving the cold. Goodness you had to climb up Mount k one to get here. You know that staircases outdoors. People don't understand that, but that just kind of whistles right to you if there's a wind. God bless you both.