As families gear up for the 2024-2025 school year, there are many preparations to be made. From buying the required school supplies to replacing clothes their children have outgrown, parents are scrambling to make the necessary arrangements to set their children up for success in the classroom. To ease the burden and prevent the overwhelm that parents are faced with during this time of year, The City of Lake Station hosted its Back to School Community Action Day at Riverview Park on August 3 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
This free event offers free school supplies, backpacks, and even haircuts to get children ready for the upcoming school year.
“It helps lessen the impact on the parents of how many school supplies they need to buy for their kids, and how much time they need to take shopping,” Adrian Vera, chief of staff for the City of Lake Station, said. “It helps parents out with time and for those with financial struggles, every little bit helps. I feel like this is beneficial to everyone.”
While the main focus of Back to School Community Action Day is to provide families with helpful supplies and services before school starts, The City of Lake Station also provides opportunities to win prizes, connect with the community, and celebrate the end of summer.
With raffles to win, a K-9 demonstration to watch, emergency vehicles to explore, fun items to bring home, and a DJ to listen to, Back to School Community Action Day brings families together for a last bit of summer fun.
“We care about our schools, we care about our kids here in the community, and we want to do all that we can to help them out. We want to do all we can to help the parents out. School supplies are not cheap nowadays and there are a lot of generous families in Lake Station,” Vera said. “Between the Lions Club, the city, or Lake Station Schools, we've all partnered up together to make this an event for families, an event for kids, and to create a little bit of excitement about going back to school.”
The City of Lake Station also wanted to provide an outlet to learn about additional community resources, so it welcomed various companies and organizations to host information booths where they could meet families, talk about their services, and pass out flyers and freebies.
“The event makes it very easy for families to connect with the organization and resources. We have different organizations and different vendors here giving out supplies, various items to the kids, and any kind of resources,” Vera said. “As long as the parents come over to the event and come visit the resources that's the best way they can connect. The schools themselves, our school system and the administration office, always have many resources for parents. Whatever they're looking for, they can always contact the School administration office, Lake Station City Hall, or the mayor's office, and we're more than willing to help any parents that need resources.”
For more information about The City of Lake Station, visit lakestation-in.gov