Charity

Benevolent Fund gave

away book

bags and school

supplies to children

in Jones County at

a local restaurant

last weekend to

help students

prepare for school

and achieve

their goals.

The giveaway took place at Fish Bay restaurant July

26.

Larry Manuel is the executive director of Charity Benevolent Fund and he said he wants to help the students in Jones County be successful in school. He said the organization also works to raise awareness about the lack of basic needs in communities, to educate homeowners on preventing foreclosure and to end poverty.

“We had this back to school drive to help kids in the county with school supplies,” he said.

“The school supplies we had were notebooks, folders, pencils, glue sticks and mesh backpacks to give the kids. We also had a few teacher’s kits to give to the teachers.”

Charity Benevolent Fund has been in Jones County for seven years, helping out the community with what it can. Manuel said he also helped with the Back to School Carnival at Wells Elementary School July 24.

“I picked Fish Bay to have this because they are a new business in Gray and I wanted them to get more exposure. This was a great way for them to help give back to the community,” Manuel said.

Brian Smith, one of the owners of Fish Bay, said Gray is a growing city and that it needs help sometimes. Smith lives in Macon, but said he loves how family oriented Jones County is.

“If the community is going to support us, we want to give back,” he said. “We felt this was a way to give back to the community. Maybe there are some kids who can’t afford school supplies, or maybe there’s a single parent who couldn’t afford supplies for their kids. We want to do whatever we can to help.”

Manuel said he hopes the school supplies can help students achieve their academic goals this year and ensure them a better future.

“It’s very important to the community because it helps to put all our kids on the same level. They come into the classroom and may not have the same benefits as their peers, so we want everyone to be equal when they start the school year,” the executive director said. “We also want them to know someone in the community wants them to succeed.”

Smith said he too wanted to do what he could for the children as they prepare to go back to school and to help the community he is getting to know. He said he was happy that he did this with the Charity Benevolent fund.

The owner said the purpose of acts of kindness such as giving local children school supplies is to show how much Fish Bay cares about everyone in the community.

“It’s important to me because when I was growing up there wasn’t stuff like this happening,” Smith said. “Back then parents had to really struggle to get you what you needed for school, so I want to do what I can to help our students in Jones County.”