Hundreds of Wilmington students receive new bookbags free of charge

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Wilmington kids will return to their classrooms Monday for the first day of school and many of them will have a new bookbag that they received free of charge this weekend.

It was part of the fourth annual Community Back To School Bash at the MLK Center, put on by the Wilmington Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance.

The group gathered grade specific supplies into bookbags and handed them out to about 2400 students.

It took about 75 to 100 volunteers to pull this event off, but the effort was worth it to see all the smiles.

“The hard work goes into three days of packing the bags, loading the bags, moving the bags from A to B. But to get to Saturday, and see that young child blessed with that bookbag, to know they got things inside the bookbag, they actually put the bookbag on as they walk out and it’s great. We send them off to a great school year,” said local pastor Jermaine Armour.

After the children received their new bookbags, they were sent outside to enjoy some live music, free food, and games for the rest of the afternoon.