By Paige Gurgainers

Many local families beat the heat this past Sunday, July 14, to participate in the second annual Back to School Bash hosted by the Young Women’s Service Club (YWSC) of Minden. 

The event began at 5 p.m. and by 5:15, hundreds of backpacks filled with school supplies had already been distributed. But there was still fun to be had with bounce houses, sno cones and hot dogs. 

“What an amazing turn out we had,” said YWSC President Jessica Haymon. “Within 15 minutes, all backpacks were handed out. We served around 200 hot dogs along with chips, fruit snacks and drinks to the local community. We also provided 150 sno cones free of charge to the children in the community.” 

The Minden Civitan’s Club donated six bikes that were given away to wrap up the event for the day.  

“This event was a major success and shows a true need in our community that we are so honored to have been able to play a small part in assisting. We can’t wait for next year to make it even bigger and better,” said Haymon.  

The YWSC still has bins out at Carter Credit Union, b1 Bank, Busy Bee Pediatrics and Brewer Physical Therapy to collect toiletries and other household items such as, socks, toothbrushes, feminine products, shampoo, conditioner, hairbrushes, deodorant and other everyday items. They are also accepting monetary donations to purchase these supplies that will be distributed at a later date to local families. For those that would like to send donations that way, please send via Venmo to YWSC-OfMinden.  

If you missed out on the Back to School Bash this past weekend but are still needing assistance with preparing for the upcoming school year, the Webster Parish School Board (WPSB) will hold their annual “Pack the Bus” event on Friday, July 26 from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Minden Wal-Mart parking lot. The event for Springhill will be held on Saturday, July 27 from 8 a.m. to noon.