By Christopher Tenpenny
With the first day of school right around the corner, Sherwood hosted its School Supply Event Saturday morning. The School Supply Event started a few years ago and gives parents and students an opportunity to get supplies, free haircuts, a free breakfast and other activities.
Sherwood Elementary counselor and Sherwood County Cares member Carolyn Johnston helped plan and organize the event.
“It’s a great way to get the kids excited for school and give parents a place to get as many things as they can,” Johnston said. “We are a disverse school district and it can be difficult for families to travel to multiple places to get their kids ready for school.”
The families who came out and attended were welcomed by a special guest, KC Wolf of the Kansas City Chiefs. The mascot has made an appearance every year Sherwood has held the event and was sponsored by Sherwood Community Bank.
“The kids love seeing KC Wolf,” Johnston said. “He takes pictures and signs autographs while having fun with them. He wrote a book and we had one parent bring a copy which he signed. It’s a lot of fun having him out here.”
The School Supply Event also added COVID-19 vaccinations to this year’s event for those who wanted to receive it.
“We have always had vaccines available since kindergarteners, sixth- and eighth- graders need them,” Johnston said. “We just added the COVID-19 vaccine this year for anyone interested.”
Johnston said they gave out 100 school supplies bag this year. Parents went online ahead of the event and filled out what their children needed before picking up their supplies at the school. While the support of the event has been great, Johnston hopes it continues to grow and more families take advantage of the event in the future.
“I think the pandemic has hurt our turnout the last two years, but we hope to continue to grow. We always want more people from the community to come out. The ones that do always seem to really enjoy it and we want more people to experience it.”
