School supply giveaway aims to help those affected by Florence

School supplies given away include pencils, colored pencils, crayons, notebooks, and some other special surprises! (Photo: Matt Bennett/WWAY)

HAMPSTEAD, NC (WWAY) — Many Pender County families are still recovering from Hurricane Florence. In the aftermath, paying for school supplies can be a financial burden.

Three years ago, Hampstead Baptist Church started an annual school supply distribution. Children’s director Kelly Witherspoon says they know those supplies can add up.

“As a parent, school supplies are very expensive, and it’s just gotten more expensive over the years,” Witherspoon said. “And we felt like this was a need we could easily meet by packing bags and opening it up to the community.”

Witherspoon says this year has been especially difficult because of Hurricane Florence.

“We have several families in our church that were flooded out and have children, some of them had to be airlifted out of their homes, even,” she said.

Thanks to a Vacation Bible School fundraiser and donations from the Hampstead Women’s Club, Witherspoon says they were able to pack even more supplies into the 200 bags they gave away this year.

“We have crayons and pens, pencils, colored pencils, glue sticks, pencil boxes, tissues, paper towels, notebook paper, so we have just a wide range of things,” she said.

At last check, there were close to 100 bags left that hadn’t been picked up. Witherspoon says they plan to allow people to pick up those bags at a later time. To find out when, click here to check out the church’s Facebook page.