Backpack giveaway supports students in Lanett
BY JOHN BRICE
THE LAFAYETTE SUN
LANETT — Goodsell United Methodist Church on North Sixth Avenue in Lanett was the site of a backpack giveaway event on Sunday afternoon. Jarquez McCullough, local business owner and candidate in the upcoming municipal election for Lanett City Council in District 3, sponsored the event with his wife.
“We have some backpacks and some school supplies sponsored by our businesses that my wife and I own, Auto Spa 334,” McCullough said. “[It is a] mobile auto detailing business and we own In The Mix mobile bartending as well. [This is] just a way to give back to our community. Our community did so much for us growing up so [this is] just one of the ways we decided to give back to the community.”
McCullough talked about some of his life experiences.
“We are retired military and we have lived around the world in a bunch of places,” he said. “We have a bunch of ideas, so we decided to retire and move back here to our community. We are just trying to bring some of the ideas that we learned from living all around the world back to the local community.”
McCullough said a lot of consideration went into what type of supplies to give away.
“We have, of course, the backpack,” he said. “We have pencils and pencil sharpeners. We have things for the younger kids like colored pencils, crayons and headphones for their classes. We have some notebook paper, composition books and things like that. Some folders as well. We were just trying to think what the kids need for school from K through 12. We have a little bit of everything and we are giving out the supplies based on their grade and their needs as well. No one backpack has the same items in it.”
McCullough said back-to-school time is an opportunity to support education.
“We think education is key,” he said. “My wife and I, we both attained our degrees as well. The things that education has done for us and the places it has taken us. It doesn’t confine you to certain jobs. The more you know, the more you grow.”
School supplies and the role they play for students is important to McCullough.
“We think it plays a vital role,” he said. “It takes the burden off everybody. There are some less fortunate families out there. We are just trying to lessen the burden. Some people may be worried about clothes and shoes, things like that. We just figured if we can at least handle the supply portion we could have less of a burden on parents.”
McCullough said economic uncertainty at the present time may be weighing heavily upon the minds of some in the community.
“With the economy and job layoffs, employees are getting their hours cut,” he said. “We are just trying to bridge the gap and do what we can to help the community out. This is where we live, so we want everyone to flourish just as we are.”
He said he believes giving back to the community will encourage others to do the same.
“As far as the logistical portion, we came up with the idea and put it out there on social media,” he said. “When we put it out there, we had some positive feedback. Giving back to the community is contagious. We had people chime in and say ‘Hey, I want to donate.’ Our businesses sponsored it but we did have some [other] donors as well. They contributed to make it an even bigger success.”
