{"id":990323,"date":"2026-08-09T04:12:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T04:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/990323\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T04:12:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T04:12:11","slug":"free-backpacks-haircuts-draw-nearly-500-families-to-jacksonville-churchs-back-to-school-giveaway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/990323\/","title":{"rendered":"Free backpacks, haircuts draw nearly 500 families to Jacksonville church\u2019s back-to-school giveaway"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 With the first day of school in Duval County set for Monday, Saint Paul A.M.E. Church opened its doors Saturday to help families get ready, drawing nearly 500 families for its annual Back-to-School Bash.<\/p>\n

The giveaway at the church on New Kings Road provided free backpacks and school supplies, along with clothing, shoes and haircuts.<\/p>\n

Parents and students lined up outside the church before the doors opened.<\/p>\n

Back to school supplies giveaway at Saint Paul A.M.E. Church. (News4JAX Channel 4)Back to school supplies giveaway at Saint Paul A.M.E. Church. (News4JAX Channel 4)Back to school supplies giveaway at Saint Paul A.M.E. Church. (News4JAX Channel 4)Back to school supplies giveaway at Saint Paul A.M.E. Church. (News4JAX Channel 4)<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t been to one before, so today is my first time,\u201d Surtrena Jackson said. My grandmother introduced me, shout out to Betty Clark, but other than that, everything has been really nice.”<\/p>\n

Students said they were looking for practical items for the school year \u2014 including supplies and outerwear, and also looking ahead to the start of classes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI probably get school supplies, get a jacket for the winter, or of course the rain too. The weather\u2019s kind of bad today,\u201d one Duval County student said.<\/p>\n

Barbers volunteered their time to provide free cuts, saying a fresh haircut can help students feel more confident heading back to school.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can make them smile just by saying, \u2018Hey, I got a new cut,\u2019 \u2026 I can go out and I just feel good about myself,\u201d barber Breshuan Cobb said. \u201cIf you feel good, you look good \u2026 you do good.\u201d<\/p>\n

The event marked the fourth year Saint Paul A.M.E. has held the back-to-school giveaway, and church leaders said the need continues to grow.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn these hard economic times, everyone needs a little help,\u201d said the Rev. Willie Barnes, senior pastor of Saint Paul A.M.E. Church. \u201cAnd so if we are able to lighten the load just a little bit by having someone not have to think about book bags, school supplies, or haircuts, then it\u2019s really an honor to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barnes said more than 50 volunteers and community partners helped make the event possible, with organizers aiming to ensure every child left with what they needed for the classroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur hope is that everyone just continues to keep moving forward,\u201d Barnes said. \u201cI know times are challenging, things are tough, society is changing, but keep moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barnes said families who were unable to attend Saturday may still be able to pick up remaining supplies Sunday morning during the church\u2019s worship service, while supplies last.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 With the first day of school in Duval County set for Monday, Saint Paul A.M.E.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":990324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,13915,3188,723,37104,7310,397147,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-990323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-america","tag-back-to-school","tag-fl","tag-florida","tag-giveaway","tag-jacksonville","tag-saint-paul-a-m-e-church","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=990323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/990323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/990324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=990323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=990323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=990323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}