Back 2 School Bash offers kids free backpacks, saves parents money

New London ― Parent Chelsea Damboise said preparing her four children for a new school year can be "so expensive."That's because for her and many others, the weeks leading up to the first day of school mean acquiring new backpacks, pens, pencils and notebooks, and then spending more to make sure their children are looking fresh ― with new clothes and new haircuts.All of it adds up. But in Toby May Park Sunday, a local small business organized an event that provided Damboise and parents of 256 other students with some much-needed relief.Back 2 School Bash, organized by online shop Moment in Time Creations and held at the 611 Ocean Ave. park, provided children with backpacks full of school supplies, along with free food and free haircuts. It was the third year it's been organized, said shop owner Stephanie Gittens, who is also a hairdresser.Gittens, in between taking a pair of shears to children's hair, explained that the event is meant to help other parents who find themselves struggling to fit back-to-school costs into already tight budgets."I'm a mom myself," she said. "So we all have had those moments where we had to choose what bill we're paying, or how we're going to get our kids ready for school, or you know, the school supply list and groceries.""And life is just ― insane right now. So I just wanted to have some type of event where we could help give back," Gittens added.By the time the event began at 1 p.m., families had already formed a long line and were waiting to run up and get their backpacks. Those backpacks, of various designs and colors, were piled high on a folding table. Even more stacked behind those. There were 260 in total. Many of them were donated in the weeks leading up to the event, while others made cash donations that Gittens used to buy supplies.Damboise and family, who had arrived 15 minutes early and got the second spot in line, were among the first to reach the backpack table and pick theirs. She and other parents said the backpacks and supplies were a huge help financially.Josh Moore, Damboise's boyfriend and the father of one of her children, said the cost to get supplies for the start of the school year is about $50 per child."It's a positive event," Damboise said shortly after helping her children pick out four different backpacks. "And it's good for us. Because we get backpacks. And you know, right now it's so expensive. It's so expensive. Everything is so expensive."So the two said the backpacks ― which had been stuffed with folders, notebooks, rulers, markers, colored pencils, crayons, toothpaste and toothbrush, hand sanitizer and socks ― helped a lot. Damboise added the backpack would last her children "the whole school year.""This is perfect," she added.Sammy Colon, of Groton, agreed, right after he helped his 5-year-old daughter pick out a multi-colored backpack.Sammy was excited that he could save some money at a time when daughter Liana, who is going into kindergarten this year, has other needs like new clothes too. The back to school event, he said, "helps big time."Liana was equally excited to go back to school, and for her new backpack."It's beautiful stuff," daughter Liana said. "Pink and rainbow." By about 1:40 p.m., the initial rush had been served, and children wandered the playground with their selections. Families sat and ate pizza at nearby tables.In the nearby shade of Gittens's hair cutting tent, Lebanon resident Mariah Haley had just watched her two daughters, 4-year-old Addilyn and 3-year-old Emersyn, get their first haircuts at no charge. The two and her 8-year-old son Brantley already got backpacks."It's definitely helping us prepare for the upcoming school year," Mariah Haley said. "And obviously all of this is, like, really just getting the community together also. So that's really nice to see."As Mariah held her phone out, Addilyn looked at the photo of herself with the new haircut and smiled, then ran off to get her face painted.Face painting was another feature of the event, which Gittens wanted to be fun so that it didn't seem just like charity. Thus, it also featured pizza and music."We never wanted it to just feel like, you know, you've got to line up and get that black bag and you know, look like everybody else," she said. "We wanted it to just look like a (regular) event that helps the parents out at the same time."Meanwhile Haley, whose three children were all going to be in school for the first time, said she got to relieve some of the stress that had come from thinking about footing the bill."Everything is just so expensive that it's hard to keep up," Haley said. "So events like this is just added support for resources that, you know, we would need to get for our kids."d.drainville@theday.com