Photo courtesy of Dream Center Dallas.
Dream Center Dallas will be hosting their annual Back to School Drive to help South Dallas and Oak Cliff children and families prepare for the upcoming school year on Aug. 5 starting at 10 a.m.
The event will take place at the Dream Center parking lot at 1900 Ewing Ave. and will go until supplies last. Families do not need to register in advance for the event, but a school-aged child must be present.
At the drive, families are able to come inside and shop around for the things their children need for the upcoming school year. There will be school supplies, clear backpacks, and shoes in multiple sizes available for families to choose from.
All of the materials offered to families are free of charge.
After shopping, families can redeem tickets at a carnival area with rides, games and inflatables, as well as caricaturists and stilt walkers. There will also be free haircuts available and treats like cotton candy and Dippin’ Dots.
“The mission of Dream Center is to be a place for all people to experience outrageous generosity and unconditional love,” said Kacie Kintz, director of Dream Center Dallas. “That is really our theme and heart for this event, is to be able to show extreme generosity to our community, as well as just let every single individual in South Dallas know that they are loved, that they are valued and cared for.”
Last year, the Dream Center team handed out 1,000 backpacks filled with school supplies, 1,000 pairs of shoes and several thousand pairs of socks.
Materials for the drives are donated by the community each year. Based off of the attendance of the organizations other events, attendance for this year’s drive is expected to be double that of last year, Kintz said..
As the organization relies heavily on community donations, they have set up an Amazon wishlist which can be found on their website. The Dream Center worked with a Dallas ISD teacher to assemble the wishlist, and some of the items in highest demand are construction paper, four packs of folders, gluesticks, crayons, and Expo markers.
If you would like to help out with the event, you can donate financially, volunteer at the event, or purchase items off of the Amazon wishlist.
“All of those are things that we are asking for and inviting people to participate in,” said Kintz. “Honestly it’s just an opportunity to love on our community, so anyone who wants to be involved we encourage all of Dallas to come together and let’s serve people who are struggling to make ends meet and come alongside them and hold their arms up for this year.”
