Holyoke safe neighborhood initiative hold annual back-to-school fair

HOLYOKE, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - The South Holyoke safe neighborhood initiative threw its annual backpack back-to-school fair on Saturday.

The fair, intended to help supply local children with necessary educational resources took place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Western Mass News spoke with Eddie Caisse, the unit director at the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department, who told of the importance of this event for the Holyoke community.

“We were dealing with a lot of people in the poverty threshold so to be able to take the burden off single moms and to be able to provide supplies to the kids. We thought it would be a cool thing to do. We started with 350 and now we’re up to 2500 backpacks.” said Caisee.

Caisse also told us he hopes this event will benefit those students returning to school soon.

“It’s very beneficial in terms of them having a great day before they go back to school. Having the supplies, each bag we get an estimated $20 worth of supplies, plus the book bag, and then they get to go get a haircut,” said Caisee.

Besides the haircuts, festivities for Saturday’s fair also include pony rides, power cars, inflatable basketball courts, and water slides.

The initiative will give away 50 bicycles in partnership with a local nonprofit.

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