When the Love Out Loud ministry began three years ago at High Hill Christian Church, its main mission was to help meet the needs of the Montgomery County community.

One of the ways of doing that is having its annual Back 2 School Bash, which is a school supply drive for Montgomery County students.

“It’s the biggest community event we do as an organization right now,” said Robert Gentry, HHCC’s lead pastor and Love Out Loud’s executive director/president.

On Aug. 6, Love Out Loud will be in charge of the Back 2 School Bash in two different locations, High Hill Christian Church and Montgomery City Elementary School. The event will start at 10 a.m. and ends at 1 p.m. for both locations and will provide school supplies for students who are living in the Montgomery County R-II School District.

Loose leaf paper, markers, notebooks, pencils, pocket folders, scissors and glue are among the items that will be given out at the Back 2 School Bash.

“We’re expecting to give out over 600 backpacks full of school supplies,” Gentry said. “Through the Montgomery City Elementary location, we expect to give out about 150 bags worth of supplies. We expect to give out around 400 to 450 backpacks through the High Hill location.”

The Back 2 School Bash also will be held from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. on Aug. 6 at Grace Lutheran Church in Wellsville. It will provide school supplies for students who are living in the Wellsville-Middletown R-I School District.

The Montgomery County Human Resource Council sponsored the Back 2 School Bash for years. But in May, the organization made the decision to hand over duties to the Love Out Loud ministry, the Powell family and Grace Lutheran Church. The Powell family, which lives in Montgomery City, will join the LOL group to support the Montgomery County R-II schools.

Gentry said there will be members from High Hill Christian Church and the LOL ministry who will help out in both High Hill and Montgomery City locations.

“Normally, we average about 60 in the High Hill location just because we have a myriad of different activities going on,” Gentry said. “We also try to provide them with a hot lunch. Whenever we do a hot dog lunch, we do a partnership with Sam’s Club. So we’re expecting around 50 at the High Hill location and around 25 at the Montgomery City location. The Montgomery City location has existed through partnerships with the Human Resource Council. But now that we have assumed that, we’re trying to increase the staffing and the increase the amount of resources we give out.”

The last two years of the Back 2 School Bash were successful for the Love Out Loud ministry. In 2020, it gave away over 400 pre-packed backpacks and had over 300 kids pre-registered. Last year, it had enough supplies to pack 500 backpacks and got a donation of 1,000 bottles of water and 500 hot dogs from Sam’s Club.

“With the Back 2 School Bash, we spend around $10,000 a year specifically on that event,” Gentry said. “Through Love Out Loud throughout the year, we spend around $20,000 and we give around $40,000 worth of resources. So we acquire around $20,000 worth of resources through our connections with food and clothing. Those are things we give out that we don’t actually pay for. But with the Back 2 School Bash, we give out around $10,000 worth of supplies and food through that event.”

About 100 food boxes will be given away between the two locations. Also, there will be inflatables and carnival games for the children to enjoy.

Gentry said he hopes for a big turnout for the event.
“We expect to have over 400 (pre-registered students) by the day of the event,” he said. “So we keep a reserve of pre-packed bags. When they come into either location, we’ll ask them if you would like to shop for your own supplies or would you like one of our pre-packed bags and we’ll give them whichever they prefer.”