Volunteers Stuff 700 Backpacks For 'Back To School Bash'

Volunteers showed at up Safety Harbor Elementary School in droves on Wednesday morning to help stuff backpacks for the Mattie Williams Neighborhood Family Center's 12th annual Back to School Bash.

The event provides free backpacks full of school supplies to any child who registers, but the center needed people to help stuff the packs that will be handed out on Saturday morning.

According to one official, they had more than enough volunteers show up.

"We had at least 100 people here," Rita Hunter of the American Legion Auxiliary said. "We had to turn some people away because there was no room for them!"

Included in those in attendance were Safety Harbor Mayor Joe Ayoub, City Manager Matt Spoor and tons of kids, according to Hunter.

Organizers estimate they stuffed around 700 backpacks in the school's music room, about the same number they have reached the last few years.

But Hunter said the number of volunteers far exceeded the amount she has seen show up in the past.

"We had so many wonderful volunteers," Mattie Williams Center director Janet Hooper told Patch via email. "What a great city we live in."

The packs will be handed out to children who registered for them on Saturday morning at the Back to School Bash at Safety Harbor City Park.

The event is free to the public.