Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office donates hundreds of backpacks

WHITFIELD COUNTY, Ga. (WDEF) — The Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office gave back to their community on Friday.

Whitfield County Sheriff Darren Pierce wants the community to know that they will help in any way.

“We want the community to know that the sheriff’s office is here to help you. That’s what the sheriff’s office is here to do. We want people to know that they can reach out to us and we will help them.”

The community answered the call. There were lines wrapped around the sheriff’s office.

Sheriff Pierce said, “We are actually going to have to change plans next year and find a lot bigger location. This is unbelievable. They started lining up at 7 this morning and it don’t start until 9.”

Whitfield County heads back to school on Tuesday, August 5th.

Sheriff Pierce was appreciative of the donation.

“We had a company, Charles Campbell Construction, donate 300 bookbags to our office. What we decided to do is that if he donated the bookbags we would fill them with crayons, pencils, and a notepad for the kids going back to school on Tuesday.”

Kids are almost back into the school buildings, which is growing excitement.

Mike Ewton is the Superintendent for Whitfield County Schools. He said, “The summer is a whirlwind for us at the district level. It’s never really quiet. We have a lot of things going on in the school, but it is never the same until the kids are back. That is when the spirit is back in the building and we look forward to that every year. It is really a festive time of the year, a hectic time of the year, but festive.”

The free backpacks are another layer to help the students start the school year strong.

Ewton said, “It’s filling a need. Those things that some people may overlook, but filling those basic needs so the kids can show up with, feel prepared with a brand new backpack, that’s a bonus.”

Events like these build the community stronger in Whitfield County.

Sheriff Pierce said, “There’s a lot of families in our community that we know first hand. We deal with all citizens in our community from poverty all the way to the rich and we know there’s a lot of poverty in our community. We want to let the families know that we are going to help in every way that we can to help make sure that your kid has what they need to go back to school.”