Back to School event a rousing success

Pictured left-to-right: Catina Brice, Cordelia Horace, Elmarie Riley, and LaRhonda Loftis. Photo courtesy of Cantina Brice

By Jan White
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CROCKETT – On Saturday, July 9, community members gathered at the Crockett Civic Center to support the First Annual East Texas Back to School Vendor Event. The event’s purpose was to collect school supplies and give them away to Houston County students to help ease their cost burden and provide an opportunity for local food and product vendors to showcase their services.

Sponsors for the event included Midway Entertainment, Mimsy’s Barbeque, and Consolidated Water, along with multiple community donations, such as two free back-to-school haircuts donated by Styles by Miles.

Seventy backpacks filled with markers, crayons, pens, pencils, spiral notebooks, notebook paper, rulers, scissors, erasers, and other necessary back-to-school items, were given out on a first-come/first-served basis. For those who didn’t receive backpacks, tables loaded with those same school supplies lined the walls of the community room. Crockett Elementary

School’s new Principal, Dr. Mecheal Abbs, was also there, handing out several boxes of free elementary reading material.
For those who arrived hungry, food trucks crowded the parking lot of the Civic Center, delivering a variety of culinary delights from Kool Kidz shaved ice to JB BBQ, and EZ Smoke BBQ, to Cynthia Lynn’s homemade burgers and chicken and waffles, or ‘food for the soul’ offered by Katie May’s Kitchen. And when attendees tired of the scorching heat, they could find solace inside the center, where vendors peddled candles, hair and beauty supplies, handcrafted keychains, hand-poured wax melts, car fresheners, and more.

An added bonus was the fundraiser for Cordelia Horace, an employee at Davy Crockett Drug, in honor of her fight against breast cancer, which raised $1,400.

Organizers Catina Brice and Jonitra McKnight praised all the vendors, donors, and sponsors, thanking them for the great turnout. “This is a community event that we’ve worked hard to plan over the past month,” said Catina Brice. “This event would not have been possible without God and our sponsors and community donors. We are forever grateful.”

Brice says that they hope to make this an annual event every second Saturday in July.