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Back-to-school bash at Clinton Presidential Center


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Updated: 8/20/2012 12:26 am Published: 8/18/2012 4:20 pm
Saturday, thousands of parents and children picked up free school supplies at the Clinton Center. For many families, the back-to-school bash helped them save hundreds of dollars they can now spend on other necessities.

Free backpacks filled with school supplies, along with free haircuts, shots and health screenings were all up for grabs for anyone who walked through the door of the Clinton Presidential Center.

"It helps me to where I don't have to really worry about rushing to buy anything extra," says mother Keesha Lucas.

Karrissa Newby signed each of her six children up for a child ID kit before they start school Monday.

"Anything can happen. I see kids come up missing all the time from school or they had their bus got in two car accidents last year. So, with us having IDs if anything happens, we can always find our kids," says Newby.

Volunteers and corporate sponsors made the Back-To-School Bash possible, and even gave backpacks away well past the end of the official event.

"It pulls at your heart-strings because you can see the relief on some people's faces when they get the backpacks, school supplies, maybe that helps them use the money that they'd otherwise spend on that for food and medicine," says Jordan Johnson with the Clinton Foundation.

Plus, the Newby family got to check out the Clinton Center for free. It is something they have thought about doing for a while.

"Just bringing them out here today was something that they wanted to do. They've been asking us to come to the Clinton Library. So it was free and they helped us for them to come do something that they wanted to do," says Newby.

In honor of former President Bill Clinton's birthday tomorrow, admission to the Presidential Center is free all weekend.
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itsjustme - 8/20/2012 9:46 AM
0 Votes
I like it when they use the word "free" for this type of thing. What they forget to tell you is how many tax dollars was wasted giving something "free" to someone who actually CAN afford the stuff. Yet another abused program.

ArkansasYankee - 8/19/2012 11:19 AM
1 Vote
I'm with you pat; When my factory closed in 2000, I was able to go to PTC on the state's dime. It had been 30 years since high school for me. Being a lifelong fan of reading, I went straight into Comp I, but I had to take remedial math classes to prepare for college algebra. It surprised me to see so many recent high school graduates in remedial math classes, not to mention they had remedial classes for Comp also. I place some of the blame on the schools though. I've mentioned my sis in laws boyfriend, a graduate of Sylvan Hills - can't read or write a lick. And I had a remedial math instructor at PTC that bragged about his PhD and other degrees, that told us you could not have a 0 on the right axis! So all the blame can't be placed on the students; some of it goes back to the quality of teachers and the schools that hire them.

pat72209 - 8/19/2012 10:53 AM
3 Votes
DITTO WILLIAM.....CLINTON/EDUCATION in the same sentence brings to mind a clipping I still have from BILLY BOY..."We are going to PLAN on more programs for illiterate adults". WHAT??? ISN'T THAT BACKWARDS? Why not plan for students to leave high school and not enter college for REMEDIAL MATH AND READING? btw When I was growing up it was accepted that EVERYONE IS NOT COLLEGE MATERIAL. I kind of think if you went through 12 years of school needing remedial reading and math in college, that shoe fits.

william69 - 8/19/2012 7:09 AM
4 Votes
Quit providing "free" this and "free" that. Provide them with the education to stop breeding like rabbits. If you can't afford to take care of your own kids stop having them ! Your telling them it's ok to breed whenever you feel like it. Teach them ! If you want to hand anything out for "free" hand out birth control. How about free tubals ? Free vasectomies ? In the long run ALL of us will save money.
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