Nearly 100 fourth and sixth graders from Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School spent part of a recent Saturday afternoon creating summer backpacks for students enrolled in the Horizons Atlanta summer program at the school.
The sixth graders worked one session at the King Plow Center in Atlanta filling backpacks with the fourth graders working another session that afternoon.
The backpacks will be given to rising first through ninth graders who attend High Point Elementary, Lake Forest Elementary, and Ridgeview Middle Schools. The backpacks were filled with at-home enrichment activities and crafts, stuffed animals and/or things they can use during the summer program, and snacks for when they are at home. The students participating in Horizons Atlanta will get backpacks on their first day of the six-week summer program, which begins in June.
Holy Innocents’ Episcopal Church and Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School (HIES) formed a partnership in 1999 to bring the Horizons program to Atlanta to provide meaningful academic and recreational programs to young students whose families would otherwise not be able to afford them.
HIES Advisory Council member Stephanie Briles, who is also mom to two HIES students, organized the event held on Feb. 10. It was co-hosted by Michelle Hodgson, another HIES mom and founder of the Children Helping Children nonprofit.
Briles began supporting Horizons Atlanta during the pandemic when she learned that many children in the program would not have access to summer food programs. She regularly spearheads donation drivers for materials, equipment, and other items the program needs in the summer. That has included organizing an annual service project with Children Helping Children that began a few years ago. She asked that this year’s project benefit Horizons Atlanta at HIES students.
Briles said she loves giving back and that it makes her feel good to know she’s helped others in need.
“I am very fortunate to be able to purchase what I want, but I am aware that that is not the case for a lot of people,” she said.
Soon after Horizons Atlanta started at HIES, Briles said she connected with Kate Kratovil, the program’s director. She learned that a lot of the students in Horizons Atlanta’s six-week summer program are Hispanic.
“That really hit home with me as my mom was from Mexico, so the Hispanic community has a special place in my heart,” Briles said.
She said Horizons Atlanta relies on the community and individual supporters to fill the gaps that its funding doesn’t always cover. This includes making sure that the students have snacks and activities accessible over the summer, or bathing suits and towels so they can participate in swimming activities during the summer program.
“As a mom and co-organizer of our Children Helping Children event, it is important for our children to know that many people struggle to make ends meet and that when they are given the opportunity to help others that are in need, they should do it,” she said.
The students who volunteer for the Children Helping Children event are happy that they helped other kids in need, Briles said. It helps them appreciate what they have and opens their hearts to those who don’t have what they do, she said.
The volunteers were told that they could continue to support Horizons’ summer program. HIES students can sign up for a minimum of one week as a volunteer assistant in the Horizons summer program starting the summer before they enter seventh grade. They will be able to obtain the service hours required by their school and continue to make Horizons’ kids’ days much brighter too, Briles said.