Juvenile Court's Back-to-School Resource Fair
The Lewis County commissioners recognized the Juvenile Court team behind the county's largest back-to-school event on Oct. 28 for going above and beyond. Court staff closed the court for a day on Aug. 20 to run the Back-to-School Resource Fair, where about 1,100 students picked out free backpacks, school supplies, clothes and shoes at the Northwest Sports Hub in Centralia. More than 90 community agencies took part.
The fair, now in its fourth year, started as a school supply drive for youth on juvenile probation. When the court hired Lisa Leon, now a juvenile probation officer, she asked whether community partners might donate. That question turned the supply drive into a resource fair that brings service providers and families into one building. Today the fair is open to all Lewis County students, not only youth on probation.
"We wanted to touch bases with the community and support them and show them that we do more than just consequences," Leon said.
The first fair was held at the TransAlta Commons at Centralia College. Organizers set a goal of helping 300 children and ended up serving more than 1,000. Families waited two to three hours in a line that ran through the commons and four blocks beyond, and partner agencies made several trips to Walmart when supplies ran out.
The next year, the Northwest Sports Hub offered its building, and it has donated the space every year since. This year, 91 agencies set up tables. Organizers estimate at least 250 people worked the event, counting court staff, about 50 outside volunteers and the two or three people at most agency tables. A national news crew that visited two years ago told organizers it was one of the largest events of its kind they had seen, and Ricolena Anders, juvenile probation manager, said Lewis County may be the only juvenile court in Washington that hosts one.
From the start, the team wanted an event any family would want to attend, without the stigma of a handout. Each student chooses a backpack in the color and style they want and receives a grade-specific "passport" listing the supplies they need. Students then go from table to table, as they would trick-or-treating, and partners check items off as they hand them out. The team builds the lists from the school districts' various school supply lists, so a kindergartner and a high school student leave with different things.
The passport also fixed a problem from the first year, when some families cleared tables of supplies and later sold them on Facebook. Now each student receives what their grade calls for, and stopping at each table slows families down long enough to talk with each agency about its services.
Clothing hangs on racks borrowed from a dance studio in Chehalis, so students can browse and choose. Shoes were added after the first year, when volunteers cleaning up found worn-out shoes that children had left behind after trying on donated pairs. This year many of the donated shoes were new, and Anders said even the youngest children asked whether their shoes came with a box.
"It meant something to them to have shoes in a box," she said. Anders now asks donors to leave new shoes in their boxes.
The fair opens with two quieter hours for medically fragile and neurodiverse children before the larger crowds arrive. Gil Hernandez, owner of Historic Barbershop in Centralia, closes his shop for the day and brings his barbers to give free haircuts. Last year, a mother brought her son, who uses a wheelchair and had never been able to get a haircut. He sat for one at the fair with his mother beside him, and she cried afterward, Leon said.
Two medical clinics offered free sports physicals during this year's event. Timberland Regional Library brought its mobile library and signed up more than 200 people for library cards. The Lewis County Sheriff's Office brought a motorcycle for children to sit on, and the Washington State Patrol staffed three tables making ID cards for children. The Seattle Seahawks donated new shoes, hoodies and jackets for the first time this year, and Footsteps of Hope brought hundreds of pairs of new jeans and shoes along with shirts and jackets. Donated gift baskets were raffled every half hour, a Centralia cheerleading squad and two mascots walked the floor, and families used two selfie stations, added because families asked for them, for back-to-school photos.
Anders said families say each year that they look forward to the fair because no one is singled out and it feels like a family event.
Every supply was donated. The county's only cost was $40 for a reusable banner thanking sponsors.
Planning for the fifth fair began the week after this one ended, with a debrief meeting. Next year the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds will provide all the tables, a local food bank plans to bring more food, and organizers hope to add immunizations and food vendors. The court is looking for vendors and volunteers, who can contact Leon at Lisa.Leon@lewiscountywa.gov.