Things were hopping at Armadillo Arena on August 4th.
A group of high school students from Seek Collaborative came to San Saba on August 4th and were handing out school supplies at the Armadillo Arena from 2-4 p.m. These high school students actively raised money for our community in light of the flooding.
Seek Collaborative is a hands-on, hybrid homeschool program in Willow Park. These volunteers were from Willow Park and Weatherford. There were a total of 24 people who came, six adults and 18 students.
This organization, Seek Collaborative, heard about the flood and wanted to do something for our community. They reached out to Kathryn Robertson with SSISD, and they worked together to set up this event.
San Saba ISD Staff did not participate in the event. They just hosted the event in the Armadillo Arena because it was a central location. However, the school district did provide snow cones for all parents and students who came to pick up supplies. The district hired Primos SnowCones to come in and give away snow cones to the community.
When you first walked in the front glass doors of Armadillo Arena, two sets of tables were set up in the foyer with lots and lots of backpacks. The tables on the right were for middle school and high school, and the tables on the left were for elementary students.
Once the student (or parent) picked up a backpack, they moved to a line of long tables holding the supplies. All they had to do was simply choose what they needed and put it in their backpack.
You saw stack after stack of folders, many colors, and binders, notebook paper, etc. Then, you saw tubs lined up next to each other. Each tub was full of a different school supply item. Among the supplies were notebooks, paper, folders, pencils, scissors, markers, highlighters, crayons, glue, Kleenex, and composition notebooks.
Parents did not have to sign up to get the supplies. They did not have to fill out forms. They didn’t have to prove they were SSISD students. This was open to anyone in the community. They simply had to show up and pick up the supplies they needed. Students could come on their own; a parent did not have to be present.
When all was said and done, over 90% of the 250 backpacks donated by the Seek Foundation students were given away.
These wonderful volunteers had great timing. School started in San Saba just two days later, on August 6th. What a blessing these youngsters were to our community!