Event will be on Aug. 4, will include Summerfest

As is the case every year, children will have a chance to get backpacks and school supplies at an event in downtown Ironton.

Tools4School and Summerfest will take place at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Aug.4 at St. Paul Lutheran Church, located at Sixth and Center streets.

In addition to the school supply giveaway, the event will feature inflatables, free cookies, drinks and hot dogs, face painting and more giveaways.

The event has been running since 2005 and tens of thousands of backpacks a have been given away over the years.

Mike Corn, one of the event’s volunteers, said when they first started with another church in Ohio, they gave out clothing, dental and school supplies.

“We felt that kids needed school supplies and that would be a better project,” he said.

His wife, Nancy Corn, said that the school supplies went first.

“They just went so quickly that it was unbelievable,” she said. “So, since there was such a need, we expanded from that and only do school supplies now.”

Many of the 2,000 kids that come to the event every year are being taken care of by grandparents, who may not have the funds to supply all that a student needs for the first day of school.

“So many kids come to schools without supplies, we just thought this would be a good project,” Mike Corn said.

Organizers ask that the children be present to select the backpack.

The giveaway is open to all students from kindergarten to 12th grades.

The Summerfest is sponsored by First United Methodist Church.