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BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR STAFF
ivan.sanders@elizabethon.com
The Carter County Back to School Bash sponsored by Harmony Freewill Baptist Church in Hampton is not that far off and Factory Connection of Elizabethton continues to show their desire to give back to the community as the retailer recently presented a donation of shirts, shoes, and other clothing items including coats to be a part of the giveaway.

Pastor Brandon Young of Harmony Freewill Baptist Church said that donations such as the one presented by the Factory Connection have made it possible to give those children what they need for a new school year.

“Without donations like this, there is just no way to purchase this many clothes for folks that are in need. When they attend, they expect that we are going to have clothes there.”

Being an employee of the school system, Young knows the needs that exist with the children and these types of donations help the kids get the school year started off on the right foot.

“Working in the school system, I see it all the time,” Young said. “The kids need the coats, the shoes – it’s amazing how fast they can go through a pair of shoes and will need another pair.

“They will come and we will give them shoes and clothes there that are donated like this that Nancy has done. And then at the Back to School Bash giving kids clothes like this to start the school year off with they get to start with what they need from the get-go and if they don’t have that, it puts them at a disadvantage at the start of the school year so it makes it tough.

“They like to come to school looking nice for the first day.”

Factory Connection Third Key Nancy Berry said that donations like this is just a small portion of what the retailer looks to do in an effort to continually give back to the community.

“This is just a part of Factory Connection’s community involvement. We can’t do everything but we like to do as much as we can. We have something coming up for Veterans Day and Cap the Gap which is foster children that are too old to be in the system,” shared Berry.

This year’s Back to School Bash will be held at Hampton High School on Saturday, July 31st, and will be hosted in a new way according to Young.

“It’s going to be done in zones this year for Carter County and we are going to do one extra zone this year for Elizabethton and anyone else that is not part of Carter County,” Young explained.

“That way, there won’t have to be kids shuttled to the church this year. It will also help to keep the crowds down as they will get a two-hour window for each zone – one, two, three, and four.

“This will help with parking because as one group leaves one group will arrive. It’s something new that we are going to try because we couldn’t use shuttle buses this year putting everybody together in a tight space.”

The Bash will also be held the same weekend as the tax-free weekend which is July 30th through August 1st according to Berry.