5th-annual PARK event will offer free book bags, more at USC Sumter

The Sumter County Prevention Team will host its fifth-annual Parents Accessing Resources for Kids event Saturday at USC Sumter's Nettles Auditorium, 200 Miller Road, from 10 a.m. to noon. The event is free and open to all parents or guardians of children 18 and under in Sumter County School District.

"We try not to have it as a back-to-school event," said Jeannine Gamble, Prevention Team chairwoman. "We like to think of it as a resource fair."

More than 50 vendors representing community agencies providing community, health and educational services for youth and families will be at the event. Vendors will have school supplies and door prizes for participants.

Children in attendance with a parent or guardian will receive a book bag from Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., Eta Zeta Omega Chapter of Sumter. For five years, as a sponsor of PARK, the Eta Zeta Omega Chapter of Sumter provided more than 850 book bags to students.

Gamble said 300 book bags will be provided and more than 300 individuals will participate in the event this year.

Parents will have two hours to spend with vendors collecting valuable community information. Adult participants also have a chance to enter their name to win a grand prize.

"We have a grand prize, which is a laptop computer," Gamble said. She said it comes with a printer, Microsoft and more.

PARK is the Prevention Team's annual outreach opportunity to meet parents in the community and provide available resources. The resources provided help create the best learning opportunity and a successful education for children in the community.