Back to School Bash by the numbers

As I said in Monday's blog, what happened at Century B Park on Sunday afternoon was pretty amazing. Here's a recap by the numbers:

3 - the number of churches who had volunteers present on Sunday afternoon. In addition to the big crowd of Freedomers, there were hard-working folks helping out from Springwell Church and Ridgeview Church. Also, Living Way Church made a financial donation to help off-set costs. We were thrilled to be able to partner together with other churches who care for the community.

130 - approximate number of volunteers who made everything happen.

1,500 - estimated total number of people present. Needless to say, we were rather overwhelmed, especially since most of the signs we had put out to advertise had been taken down pretty early on.

725 - number of backpacks full of school supplies that were given away. This is the first year we have given away every single backpack. The last two years we have had some left over that we then donated to area schools.

1,000 - conservative estimate of the number of backpacks we should plan to give away next August.

100 - combined pounds lost by our cooking crew as they sweated over their grills on the hottest day of the summer. This crew never got a break, and they never complained.

4:45 - time that the first folks got in line at the gate to receive a backpack.

6:00 - time the event began.

30 - the number of folks it took to put together the big white tent where the food was served. We believe in working together you know!

0 - number of parking spaces left in both parking lots and also in the lot of the church across the street. Not to mention all the cars parked up and down the road.

250 - number of hearts broken by Miss Upstate, Stephanie Vaughn (who was giving away signed photos) when the boys found out she's already dating someone.

??? - the impact made in the lives of kids and their parents who received the backpacks. It simply cannot be measured.

A huge thanks to everyone who participated by volunteering on Sunday, or by donating school supplies! A special thanks to Donny for arranging so many of the details and to Laurie King, who headed up the backpacks, and Brian Thomas, who headed the food crew. Sunday was another great way to let the community we live in know that we care. The hard work and dedication of the folks at Freedom never ceases to amaze me!