The bags of school supplies were gathered and bagged to hand out at Dove Church.
Photos submitted by Jason Stoops
Volunteers help bag the school supplies at Dove Church to hand out to kids.
Photos submitted by Jason Stoops
Locals lineup at the Dove Church for the Clinton County School Supply Handout on Sunday.
Photos submitted by Jason Stoops
WILMINGTON — Nearly 400 children received supplies for the school year at a special event at Dove Church on Sunday.
Organized by locals, including Jason Stoops and Lee Sandlin, the event saw kids from all over Clinton County getting their supplies for the year.
Stoops told the News Journal while he and the volunteers put together several bags the day before, there would be times they had to put together bags to keep up.
While they didn’t run out of supplies, they did run out of time with some supplies left over.
“Around 20 or 30 (bags of supplies) we took down to Green Meadows, we took some to East Clinton in Sabina … and some are available at Sugartree Ministries,” said Stoops.
He couldn’t recall how many items were donated for the handout.
“We received boxes and boxes,” he said.
The idea for this started back in 2020 when he and some friends were poking fun at a Facebook post about gathering two shopping carts full of school supplies for that year. They then started to think about how they would do something similar.
Volunteers on Sunday included individuals from local libraries, Dove Church, and Hope House.
The event didn’t just have the volunteers handing out supplies, there was also a collection of others making the event a festive environment. Amazon personnel were present making food, and there were also people providing face painting and other activities.
Stoops also highlighted certain volunteers who provided other help for the kids. These included people donating shoes and socks, and one lady providing haircuts to the kids.
“The haircuts were one of the best things at the event,” said Stoops. “She’s got hands of steel. She sat there clipping hair non-stop. My hands hurt just watching.”
Stoops said that moving forward, donations may need to be taken earlier in the year.
“I’m glad to see everyone work together. We have our differences but I consider this a test to see how things can work in the future together,” he said.
Anyone wishing to donate for next year can contact Stoops at 937-566-1475 or Lee Sandlin at Sugartree Ministries at 937-382-8359.
Reach John Hamilton at 937-382-2574
