DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – The Dayton chapter of the NAACP strove to help children succeed on Wednesday by giving away over 100 backpacks and school supplies.
While many places have hosted giveaways in the past few months, the NAACP says that not every student was able to take advantage of these opportunities due to problems like a lack of transportation.
“I think it’s something that’s important to our families and our kids,” said Channey Good, principal at Louise Troy PreK-6 School. “I think the assumption is made that the kids have book bags, but you can’t assume that. So we make sure they have access and exposure to those items.”
The NAACP chose to overcome this issue by bringing the giveaway to the kids themselves.
“What we understand as NAACP is, education opens doors to unlimited possibilities, and we got to start with these youth,” NAACP Dayton President Derrick Foward said. “And as these youth are growing up inside of school, we want to make sure that they are given the tools necessary to help them to achieve education.”
Part of why the NAACP chose to work with the Louise Troy School was the school’s historic namesake, Foward said.
According to the NAACP, Louise Troy was one of the founders of the Dayton unit of the NAACP and a pioneer in education. When the schools were integrated in 1887, Troy was the only African American teacher retained. She would go on to help train young black women in teaching in the early 1900s and also taught students such as Paul Laurance Dunbar.
And her legacy of education continues in the community today.
“We couldn’t think of any better school to give away over 100 book bags and school supplies to students inside of the Dayton area,” Foward said.
The NAACP purchased more than half of the donated bags themselves, however, corporations such as Kroger and Five below also contributed to their efforts.
