LUMBERTON — More than two thousand people attended Saturday the Back to School Community Kick Off Event hosted by the Public Schools of Robeson County at Biggs Park Mall.

Several booths were set up in which families received information about programs like Driver Education, Indian Education and others. Community partners like Lumber River United Way also provided additional resources like books and other items.

Parents stopped by the school nurses’ table to get information about upcoming immunizations and also by Ava’s Mobile Stem Lab to participate in live science experiments.

Shantese Brown, who attended the event with her two children, said the event was “very helpful, very entertaining, very informative” and that she would attend another event like it in the future.

“I think everything is nice and I’m enjoying it,” said Gladys Moody, who attended with her five grandchildren.

Because of high attendance, the event ended earlier than the 8 p.m. time frame, as all resources were exhausted. PSRC families are encouraged to attend open house events at their student’s schools on Aug. 26 from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. for additional information and resources like book bags.

“The goal of the Community Kick Off Event was to mobilize the community to help students succeed. I am excited about our first event and recurring events in the future.” said Jennifer Freeman, PSRC assistant superintendent of Student Services, Intervention and Support.

“We were pleased with the amount of participation by PSRC families,” said PSRC Superintendent Freddie Williamson.

“We would like to thank our community partners for participating and providing extra resources to help our students prepare for a successful school year ahead,” Williamson said.

The event was the first of its kind at the start of the school year, and unlike the annual book bag giveaway, more booths and resources were incorporated.

“I’m still in awe of the turnout for our Back to School CommUNITY Kick Off, we define family engagement as the active, ongoing, two-way collaboration between educators, families and community supporters, with the overarching goal of supporting student success,” said Brendalyn Thompson, PSRC Family Engagement Specialist.

“This past Saturday was a demonstration of that collaboration as we came together in unity to kick off the school year,” she added.