Nearly 1,000 school supply backpacks given away Saturday

PHOTOS BY BENJAMIN CHASE/PLAINSMAN Cars were lined up an hour before distribution was scheduled to start. Volunteers prepared and distributed 980 backpacks to more than 300 vehicles that came through on Saturday morning.

HURON – Cars lined up beginning before 7 a.m., with the line reaching more than a mile long to receive nearly 1,000 backpacks filled with school supplies Saturday morning at Faith Alive Church.

Supply purchasing for the backpack program four months ago and culminated with volunteers preparing 980 bags. Over the course of 90 minutes Saturday, all of those bags were distributed by volunteers to more than 300 vehicles that passed through the Faith Alive parking lot.

Each backpack given away had supplies specific to grade level, based on school supply lists for each grade in the Huron School District.

The bottom photo is a group of the volunteers for the backpack distribution program. Volunteers ranged in age from 9 to "70s" according to giveaway organizers.