Salvation Army of Bainbridge recently finished their annual supply drive and prepared students with backpacks filled with supplies for the beginning of the school year.

Stacy Warren, director of the Bainbridge Service Center, said this year went great. She said all the kids were extremely excited to get new bookbags. Most of the children have had to use a siblings or didn’t have one at all, so to get something that was all their own was thrilling for them.

Warren said this year through donations Salvation Army was able to provide for approximately 50 families. The store does their best to provide for all the family’s needs. They asked the families when they arrived to pick up their supplies if they had school clothes to wear yet, and if they did not Salvation Army also helped them get some gently used clothing to start the year in. For children who will need more clothes throughout the year, Warren said they will pass out clothes twice a week.

“We want all our kids to be successful,” she said.

While all the kids were excited to get their stuff to begin the year, Warren said they did see a slight decrease in donations this year. Warren stressed that this is not necessarily a negative thing, though. Salvation Army’s goal was to get more people in the community involved, and they did.

Many different agencies have started doing their own supply drives or had churches sponsor kids at a specific school.

Warren said there might be a gap somewhere in between, but the community has come together this year to really provide for the youth in Decatur County.