DES MOINES, Iowa — As much as kids might hate to hear it, it's almost time to get back to school.
An event on Saturday provided a one-stop shop for refugee families to get their kids ready and rearing to go for the school year.
Families searching for school supplies and volunteers eager to help them flooded into Drake University's Olmsted Center for the event organized by Alison Hoeman of Des Moines Refugee Support. As a former teacher, she felt compelled to help.
"There's lots of things that the kids need to get done before they're ready to come back to school," Hoeman said. "So we just wanted to offer all of those things in one place, come and get everything done."
Families could pick up everything from clothes to pillows—even the COVID-19 vaccine. There were also stations for vision and dental checks, sports physicals and haircuts. All of these came at no cost to the families, and many took advantage of the opportunity.
"We decided to do family tickets, and we numbered them," Hoeman said. "I printed 250 tickets, and then we panicked when those were all gone before nine o'clock."
Hoeman, the volunteers and the participants all seemed satisfied with the end result.
"I know that there's a lot of stress with going back to school," Hoeman said. "So we wanted to make this as stress free as possible that they can get all of these things done, be ready to go to school."
Watch: Here's how DMPS is preparing for the 2021-22 school year following latest CDC guidance