KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A local educator group is hosting a free family resource fair, featuring backpacks filled with school supplies, as well as other fun activities.
BLOC, which stands for Brothers Liberating Our Communities, works to recruit and support Black male teachers in the Kansas City area.
The group will hold its back-to-school fair Thursday evening, with 500 backpacks filled with school supplies to give away. There will also be a bouncy house, gaming truck, puppet show, pop-up playground, music, and food.
"It's not just come and pick up a book bag and leave," Cornell Ellis, BLOC founder, said. "Come pick up a book bag, hang out with us, get to know these community organizations and vendors and become a better, bigger part of your community."
Ellis said school supplies are critical to helping students succeed.
"It's this foundational support of learning. If kids don't have the things that they need, the resources, the tools that they need, then we can't expect them to engage in learning and to become critical thinkers and agents of their society," he said. "So it's extremely important that kids not only feel like they're valued, but we show them that value through providing them with things that they need so that they can learn in an effective way."
Most of the supplies were donated by Paseo Baptist Church and the W.E.B. Dubois Learning Center provided a place for BLOC to store the backpacks and supplies.
The Student and Family Back-to-School Resource Fair will run from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday evening at Manheim Park and Garden, 4229 Forest Ave., Kansas City, Missouri.
BLOC is also hosting an event specifically for teachers.
The Black Teacher Back-to-School Bar B Q Bash will be held next Thursday, August 26, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Manheim Park and Garden. It will feature food, teacher resources and networking opportunities.
Details about these and future events are available on BLOC's website.
