Community Barbecue Gets Kids Ready for School Year

DULUTH, Minn.– The school year is starting in just under a couple weeks for Duluth Public Schools. As families try to prepare for a school year during the pandemic, one local group offered some help Friday afternoon.

Neighborhood Youth Services is a community-based organization for local kids in the area. And today they brought the community together to get ready for the upcoming school year.

Their annual back to school barbeque took place at the Washington Community Center in downtown Duluth’s Hillside Community. Families were treated to a free meal of burgers, hotdogs, chips and more.

Over 100 free backpacks were also given out to students. Inside it were school supplies like pencils, notebooks, crayons, and more, along with notes of encouragement for students from volunteers at the center.

Neighborhood Youth Services after school director Princess Kisob says events like this not only bring the community together but are a way to show parents the center will do whatever they can to meet parents halfway as try and help get through a school year like no other.

“We know that this is a really challenging time. It is a strange school year like no other that I’ve ever seen in my lifetime and so we really want to do our best to create a little sense of normalcy but also letting families know that we will be a resource for them when school opens up again,” said Kisob.

The pandemic has brought a bit of change for the event compared to other years. There were a limited amount of picnic tables for families and food was put in to-go boxes as organizers wanted a more grab and go format.

But this year, they also gave out free boxes of groceries for families who need them.

Mentor Duluth was also at there, they team up with Neighborhood Youth Services to help provide positive role models for area kids.