Monroe, Ga: Shepherd’s House, a local 501c3, celebrated a significant milestone of 12+ years of sponsoring our Back2school book bag and school supplies giveaway, a bookbag journey marked by growth and a commitment to our youth and community. On July 19 we recognized this milestone by sponsoring our inaugural Family Fun Day at the Shepherd’s House Community Center 710 Harris St, a FREE Festival of Fun for ALL the Family!
At Shepherd’s House, we believe in the power of partnerships. Every year we call on community organizations, individuals and businesses to partner with us. We are thankful for the community support – sponsoring bookbags and school supplies, donating food, snacks and water, setting up the venue, stuffing book bags, being a community resource, and volunteering for the day of event. The kids get free book bags, books, school supplies, art supplies, free food, and enjoy games, music, dancing and prizes.
Shepherd’s House launched our first back2School Giveaway in 2013; it is now an annual program. This initiative is part of our academic readiness programming, which intentionally teaches educational empowerment, mentoring, leadership development, and life skills. To date we have provided over 2,255 youth with supplies. We affectionately call this our bookbag journey.
Thanks to the contributions of our partners, this year we served over 350 youth from the Walton County Community with book bags, school supplies and more.
We are lucky and blessed to have the growing support of the community. A special shout out to our 2025 Book Bag Partners and Sponsors: First African Baptist Church Monroe, JOHN’S Supermarket , Mookie Moo’s Philadelphia Water Ice, Triumph Church, Gareth Fenley, Craig Turner The Book Man of Monroe, The Monroe Police Department, Erika Toney, Major Gaming, LLC, Patrice Broughton, Rucker Family Amusements, Monroe Area High School, District 2 City Council Member Myoshia Crawford, Attorney Andrea P. Gray, Chief Keith Glass (retired), Brad McCance CFI Real Estate Investments, Janet Miller Fields.
“I want to thank Shepherd’s House for allowing MAHS to be a part of this event,” Principal Eddie Hood, Monroe Area High School. “I am excited about working with you in the future to help positively impact and serve the Monroe Area Community.”
Sonny Turner, Walton County Conservation District. The WCCD provided an additional educational component to the Shepherd’s House Book Bag Giveaway.
“The students received school supplies and also learned about managing and conserving our counties natural resources and what they can do to protect our beneficial insects like honey bees that pollinate our fruit & Vegetables plants,” Turner said.
“The First African Baptist Church was honored to partner with Shepherd’s House for a community-wide Back-to-School Book Bag Giveaway, blessing students and families with essential school supplies as they prepare for a new academic year,” Pastor Edwin Beckles of First African Baptist Church said. “We offered not just book bags, but prayer, encouragement and hope. Smiles lit us the children’s faces and parents expressed deep appreciation for both the supplies and the spiritual covering offered through prayer.”
“After doing my giveaways for 10 years, when you see the kids faces and tell the parents it’s all free, it doesn’t get any better than that. Kids who don’t have a lot need to know that there’s still folks out there who want to make their day a little better,” said Craig Turner, The Book Man of Monroe: I’m glad and tremendously blessed that I can do that. I thank Shepherd’s House and Gloria for letting me be a part of that. God bless them. “
An anonymous parent said, “Prices are up and school supplies are expensive, especially if you have more than one child. We appreciate the help and my kids had a blast with all the games and other stuff.”
Founded in 2010, The Mission of Shepherd’s House is to help at-risk youth change their behavior and change the direction of their lives by providing a positive environment through mentoring, leadership development, academic enrichment and support services. For more information about Shepherd’s House, please check out the website: https://www.shepherdhouseinc.org, or contact it at info@shepherdshouseinc.org, call 404-590-4798, and follow it on Facebook.
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