Back To School Picnic
Saturday August 4th St. Paul’s Church. The Preston Family Foundation and Field & Main Bank took on the challenge off hosting a Back To School Picnic for families in the East End.
Kids, parents and grandparents showed up in blistering heat to socialize and break bread together. They came early, stayed long, played games and many ate a second time. These families were hungry, grateful and polite.
Tammy Sutton, Rob Carroll and Buzzy Newman of the AKZ joined a host of volunteers preparing, serving and visiting with guests. It seems we may have fed between 550 and 600 people.
St. Paul’s met Sunday to review the picnic and plan for next year. Our most pressing, issue to be resolved before next year, is HEAT SAFETY.
We will have an EMT present but hopefully we won’t need him/her.
We will have 3 water stations instead of one.
We will have additional tents.
Dave and Ron from the foundation are investigating getting a Mist/Spray Machine which could be used all summer for the AKZ kids, who many times can’t play out side because of the heat and lack of shade.
We used most of our budget for this project, and the rest of the budget will be used for AKZ after school snacks. All leftovers were taken to the Men’s Shelter.
“This picnic is a beautiful way to build a sense of community with neighbors watching out for neighbors.”
- Tammy Sutton of the Audobon Kids' Zone