Warden kids get backpacks, hot dogs at 'Back 2 School'
Cheryl Schweizer/For The Sun Tribune Students gather school supplies during last week’s Back 2 School event.
Cheryl Schweizer/For The Sun Tribune Not only could kids get school supplies during the Back 2 School event, but they could get snazzy haircuts as well.
Cheryl Schweizer/Sun Tribune Going back to school requires a good looking haircut and students got the chance to get one during last week’s Back 2 School event.
Cheryl Schweizer/For The Sun Tribune Volunteers help pass out school supplies during Back 2 School last week in Warden.
WARDEN — As every kid knows, it’s that time of the year when (groan) they’re going back to school. The Warden Assembly of God made it a little more fun last week for grade school and middle school students by sending them back to class with new school supplies – and a haircut for those kids who needed one.
It’s the second year the church has sponsored a “Back 2 School” event, with hot dogs and potato chips, along with pencils, erasers and backpacks.
Volunteers distributed (washable) markers to kindergartners, pencil boxes to third- and fourth-graders, notebooks to fifth-graders and backpacks to all kids. Three volunteer barbers from the church gave haircuts to kids who wanted to spruce up before school.
Church members got the idea from similar events in Moses Lake, said pastor Rick Garza in an earlier interview. The event gives church members an opportunity “to get involved in the community,” said Robert Pruneda, one of the volunteers. “We want the community to know we’re out here and we care for them. We want to be here to serve them.”
It’s a way, Pruneda said, to live out the church’s motto, which is “Love God,” and... and...the motto is. “Hey, Cindy, what’s our motto?” Pruneda asked his cousin Cindy Pruneda.
Cindy Pruneda was busy handing out notebooks and paper to kids, and she couldn’t remember either. “It’s on our website,” she said.
(And it is right there on the church website, “Love God, Love People, Serve the World.”)
Volunteers from the church were joined by volunteers who work at school and volunteers from the community. Church members cooked and served the hot dogs.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.