NEW YORK (PIX11) — With the first day of school just over a week away, families in the Mount Hope neighborhood of the Bronx got help checking off their back-to-school lists Wednesday at P.S. 28X.
The school opened its doors for a community celebration packed with school supplies, family services, food and activities designed to help students start the year prepared.
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For children, the event was more than a day of games, music and ice cream.
SNIPES partnered with Slice of Excellence and the Center for Educational Innovation to turn the area around P.S. 28X on Anthony Avenue into a back-to-school bash. Families received free book bags, school supplies and $50 gift cards. The event also included food, free haircuts, massages for parents and activities for children.
Students were invited to share their feelings about returning to school on Street Lab’s “Imagine” board, where they wrote one word describing the start of the new school year.
For K’lene Soto, whose daughter attended P.S. 28X from pre-K through fifth grade, the giveaways and community support are especially meaningful. Her daughter is now 11 and in middle school, but the family still comes back to the school each year.
“This is important for me because, you know, um, I am a single mom and things get hard and they have a lot of help out here,” Soto said.
Soto said the event helps families with needs that can sometimes arise unexpectedly as the school year approaches.
“It’s always good things, like good material things… Things that you least expect and they are there for you,” she said.
Elise Banegas, the community school director at P.S. 28X, said the event is meant to bring fun and practical help together for Mount Hope families before classes begin.
“This event really is about a culmination of resources, having a good time and starting the school year off strong,” Banegas said.
Organizers connected families with more than just backpacks and school supplies. The event also offered food and access to local organizations that provide services and resources throughout the year.
Banegas said it is particularly important for parents, especially mothers, to know they do not have to navigate those challenges alone.
“I think this is important for mothers because it helps mothers see that they have support and sometimes it’s hard for, you know, us women to ask for help or people in general to ask for help, but they don’t have to ask, they just have to pull up and they just have to, to come and show up and be present,” Banegas said.
For Soto, that continued support is what makes the annual event a tradition worth returning to.
“I just wanna give a big thank you. Like, honestly, this is amazing for, like I said, for the community,” she said.
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