As its name implies, the Back-to-School Spectacular Friday in Cleveland was just that – spectacular.
No one expected that between 800-1,000 children would attend the event with their families, said Cleveland Civic Center Director Frieda Joyce, but by 6 p.m. – with more than an hour before the event ended — that was the number of children who made their way through the civic center to collect free backpacks and school supplies.
The school supply giveaway is an annual event hosted by the Cleveland Civic Center. Every year, as the population soars at Cleveland ISD so does the need for school supplies.
“Kids are getting what they need for school. That’s what this is all about,” said Joyce. “We had 500 backpacks but we ran out of those. We also had 300 grocery-type cloth bags and we ran out of those. First Baptist Church ran out of school supplies to hand out so they gave us another 200 bags to use and we ran out of those, too.
Families who attended the event were invited to step onboard a Cleveland Fire Department engine truck and have photos taken with one of several mascots walking through the crowd.
In a dance-off between Cleveland ISD’s mascot, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, H-E-B Buddy and Tooth from A-Z Dental, the real winner was 2-year-old Emanuel Castillo, who stole the show by dancing along with them.
Be sure to watch the video of the dance-off by going online to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWw3flxWgg4&feature=youtu.be
