CLEVELAND - Caring Hands Ministries will hold its 18th Annual Back to School Give Away on Saturday from 3:00-7:00.
Any area parents or grandparents who need clothes or school supplies for their children are invited to come to the Roy Ash Community Building behind United Community Bank off Ga. 115 in Cleveland and get what they need.
The clothes are described as "gently used hand me downs" that have been donated to Caring Hands Ministries. There are also some new clothes. Sizes range from toddlers to XXL teens. Americans Helping Americans has donated new school supplied again this year and a wrestling show at the Sautee Nacoochee Gym this past Friday raised money for more supplies.
“This give away is open to anyone who needs things for their children or teens for back to school,” Carting Hands Ministries president Charles Fleming said. “All children grow and so all children need new things and what one child has outgrown can bless another child. All children need school supplies too. We have never required preregistration or required that families be on any specific assistance program to be part of this."
According to Caring Hands Ministries, school officials say that there are over 600 children and teens in White, Lumpkin and Habersham Hall counties alone who need clothes and school supplies their parents can’t afford to go out and buy.
“Before Caring Hands Ministries started the Back to School Give Aways we and every other help ministry in the area had a flood of emergency help requests from families who couldn’t pay their rent or utilities because they had had to use the money to get their children ready for school. Once we started the give aways we and other agencies saw a sharp drop in these emergency requests. When Americans Helping Americans started to send school supplies then emergency requests dropped even further.”
Volunteers are needed to help set up for the event and to clean up afterwards as well as to help unload the truckload of school supplies Americans Helping Americans sends. Anyone who wants to volunteer or wants more information about the give away can contact Caring Hands Ministries at 706-219-1980.
