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<\/p>\nEsperanza de Tejas’ annual back-to-school event provided clothing, shoes, diapers, food, health services and other necessities to help students start the school year<\/p>\n
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 Hundreds of Coastal Bend families received more than school supplies at Esperanza de Tejas’ sixth annual back-to-school event, where organizers focused on providing the everyday essentials many children need to succeed in the classroom.<\/p>\n
The Corpus Christi nonprofit distributed free clothing, shoes, diapers, wipes, hygiene products, food and other necessities while also offering physicals, immunizations and eye exams through partnerships with local organizations.<\/p>\n
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Founder and CEO Brianna Davis said the goal is to remove barriers that can keep children from attending school or feeling confident in the classroom.<\/p>\n
“It’s all about confidence,” Davis said. “School supplies are important, but what about the child who doesn’t go to school because they don’t have shoes, detergent, body soap or toothpaste? When kids aren’t worried about those things, they can focus on learning.”<\/p>\n
Unlike many back-to-school events, Esperanza de Tejas allows families to choose the clothing, shoes and other items they need rather than receiving prepackaged supplies.<\/p>\n
“We wanted to create an event where families can come and get those essential items with choice and dignity,” Davis said.<\/p>\n
The nonprofit has partnered with the Free Store Corpus Christi for the past three years to ensure families experiencing poverty or homelessness can access the resources they need. Organizers also included diapers and wipes for families with young children, saying early childhood students often need those supplies to attend daycare or preschool.<\/p>\n
Each family also received a food bag, while children were given snack packs intended to provide a week’s worth of school snacks.<\/p>\n
Davis said the event addresses the needs many families face as back-to-school costs continue to add up.<\/p>\n
“You have school supplies, hygiene items and food,” she said. “By the time you add everything up, for some families that’s their whole rent.”<\/p>\n
This year’s event was supported by Driscoll Health Plan, Tesla Gulf Coast Lithium Refinery, the Port of Corpus Christi and numerous community organizations that provided services and resources in one location.<\/p>\n
The event has grown significantly since it began six years ago. Davis said the first event served about 30 people, while this year’s turnout reached nearly 400 families.<\/p>\n
She said the growth reflects the trust the nonprofit has built within the community.<\/p>\n
“When families come here, they know they’ll be able to get the items they need with no judgment and very few barriers,” Davis said.<\/p>\n
Esperanza de Tejas is already planning next year’s event and is seeking volunteers, donors and community partners to continue expanding its efforts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Esperanza de Tejas’ annual back-to-school event provided clothing, shoes, diapers, food, health services and other necessities to help…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":["post-391482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi-headlines","tag-corpus-christi-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=391482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}