Annual school supply distribution event held in drive-thru format amid COVID

The Tarrant County Back to School Roundup held its annual school supply distribution event on Friday at the Tarrant County College South Campus despite a few challenges because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The event usually sees a massive turnout of families from throughout the county who gather in person and enjoy live music while getting free school supplies, but this year’s event was held in a drive-thru format as a safety precaution.

Only families who registered online were able to get supplies.

Faye Austin, Back to School Roundup board member and marketing manager for this year’s event, said her colleagues felt that organizing this year’s event was more important than ever before because of the financial burden COVID-19 has inflicted on families everywhere. Almost 1,400 families registered.

“We talked to public health officials, county members — we even debated canceling it — but we had to put our philanthropic thinking caps on and just think of how to make this event work,” she said. “I think a pandemic and people being laid off kind of made us want to make it work even more.”

The event began at 8 a.m. at TCCC’s South Campus, where about 100 masked-up volunteers in bright orange shirts stood ready to give out the school supplies as people waited in their cars. Families who did not have vehicles arrived on a bus.

Each student was given essential supplies, such as crayons, pencils, notebooks, paper, highlighters and other items.

Aside from the school supplies, families that participated also received educational resources in English and Spanish about literacy, parenting, nutrition, financial literacy, fire safety and social services.

The event is funded each year solely through private donations and in-kind contributions, but Chris Zimmer, board president, told KXAS-TV that “the funding is down this year.”

“Usually, we give out between 10,000 and 11,000 supplies and this year we’re going to just about hit 5,000 and that’s all because of funding,” she said.

Tarrant County is home to 20 school districts.

“This is a historic and an unusual start of the school year but we know that we will all pull through this by being smart and using masks, social distancing and washing our hands to open our schools and keep them open safely,” said Fort Worth Superintendent Kent P. Scribner at the event.