Despite the pouring rain on the morning of Thursday, July 25 in the small town of Jefferson City, Tennessee, hundreds of families and hundreds more children were lined up and waiting patiently to receive backpacks filled with school supplies and more.
Our partner there, Appalachian Ministries of the Smokies (AMOS), held its annual Back to School Bash just in time for the start of a new school year that not only provided more than 670 children with school supplies, but also served 260 families with food boxes and dental kits – all made possible by the supporters of Americans Helping Americans®.
AMOS executive director Jean-Ann Washam reported that “The event provided much needed school supplies to our families” as well as allowed local assistance agencies to set up booths and pass out information about their services.
“The children were all so excited to get their new backpacks,” Jean-Ann told us. “One little girl (a third grader) was so excited to receive her own backpack. It broke my heart that this was the first new backpack she had ever gotten.”
In addition to the backpacks and school supplies, families in need were also provided with boxes of nonperishable food containing items such as from a typical recent shipment of canned chili, spaghetti & meatballs, green beans, and diced tomatoes, beef tamales, tuna, applesauce, fruit cocktail, Mandarin oranges, peanut butter, mac ‘n cheese, rice, almonds, and Farina.
“For the past three years, Americans Helping Americans® has been distributing 10,000 food boxes to our community partners yearly,” notes Americans Helping Americans® Executive Director Cameron Krizek. “This support is greatly appreciated!”
Last year, Americans Helping Americans® shipped 10,000 food boxes to our partners in Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, New York, Tennessee, and West Virginia for distribution to the most needy in their communities, and this year, Cameron has increased the number of boxes to 15,000.
And as children in Appalachia face among the highest rates of dental caries in the country, primarily due to a high intake of sugary foods and soft drinks – as well as a lack of dental care products at home – at Americans Helping Americans® we have been working to address this serious health issue by providing thousands of dental kits containing child and adult size toothbrushes, a six-month supply of toothpaste and floss each year.
In 2023, we distributed 2,450 dental kits to children in needy families through our Appalachian partners who arrange for dental health professionals to come to community centers and schools to demonstrate proper dental hygiene methods and practices to ensure how to use their new “Mighty Molar kits” at home.
Jean-Ann noted the mood was festive even though the weather was not cooperating: “The event started out with pouring rain, and we only had a few canopies.”
However, “despite the bad weather families were willing to stand in the rain, or bring umbrellas, because there was a need for school supplies. Amazingly everyone was in a good mood despite the weather.”
Jean-Ann also wanted the supporters of Americans Helping Americans® to know that “Without your support, we would not have these items to give out to our families.
“If we were not able to hold this event lots of families would struggle to provide school supplies for their children.”
