El Paso, Texas (KFOX14) — Okay, this one was bigger than a school-supply giveaway.
At the 2026 KFOX14/CBS4 Back-to-School Expo, we asked participating businesses, schools, health providers and community organizations one practical question: Why is it so important to give back to El Paso?
The answers came from very different industries, but they kept circling the same things: family, safety, education and the reality that back-to-school expenses can add up quickly.
The annual expo was held Saturday, July 25, at Bassett Place in El Paso. Families could pick up free school supplies while they lasted, participate in family-friendly activities and meet organizations providing educational, health and community resources. The official sponsor roster brought together organizations from nearly every part of life in the Borderland.
The first answer that landed was family.
“It’s all about family at the end of the day, and El Paso, we’re all family,” a representative from El Paso Emergency Room said.
They explained that the facility’s team tries to treat every patient like family first. That answer felt very El Paso. No long speech, just a clear idea about how people should be treated.
Other participants focused on what back-to-school expenses mean for families already trying to stretch every dollar. A representative from an immigrant-owned law firm spoke about understanding the struggle families go through and wanting to help alleviate some of those costs.
Another participant remembered growing up without much money for sneakers or school supplies.
“Any little bit helps the family,” they said.
That is a simple sentence, but any parent looking at a full back-to-school list knows exactly what it means.
Young Rembrandts put a specific number behind its commitment.
“Our goal this year is to give away 10% of our classes at no cost to the families,” a representative said.
The organization also discussed offering scholarships for drawing classes to families in the El Paso region. Its local Borderland program provides after-school drawing classes for children in El Paso, Las Cruces and surrounding communities.
Education came up again and again, but not in only one form.
One representative said, “It’s not just about one person, one school, it’s about the whole community.”
Another spoke about building relationships among students, staff, parents and the surrounding community so young people can grow into engaged future citizens. The Center for Employment Training described its work as helping people improve their futures, prepare for employment and change the direction of their lives.
That is the part people do not always see. A back-to-school event can put supplies in a child’s hands today while also introducing a parent or student to a program that could change what next year looks like.
Safety had its own lane.
Southwest Mechanical spoke about protecting people during El Paso’s extreme summer heat.
“It gets hot out here. 115 degrees puts people in danger,” a representative said.
A driving-school representative talked about helping teenagers and adults understand road safety, while another health-focused organization emphasized starting primary care young and continuing healthy habits into adulthood. The settings were different, but the thinking was similar. Giving back can also mean helping a family avoid a preventable problem.
ASA Architects connected its community work directly to the people it serves.
“It’s important for ASA Architects to give back to our community, because they’re the whole reason why we’re in business,” a representative said.
The company also spoke about helping create schools and wanting the students inside those spaces to have what they need. ASA Architects was included on the expo’s official sponsor roster.
Another long-standing El Paso organization said community support can take the form of customer service, organized outreach or something as practical as school supplies. It does not always need to be complicated to matter.
By the end of the conversation, one of the simplest answers may have said it best: “Bravo is all about giving back.”
The organizations at Bassett Place were not all doing the same work, but they were responding to the same local reality from different angles. Back-to-school pressure does not fit neatly into one category. It can involve supplies, health, transportation, education, creativity and cost.
The camera caught the quick answers. What stayed with me was how practical they were. People were not talking about community as an abstract idea. They were talking about what they could actually do for a family right here in El Paso.
DTC_KFOXExpoV2