HERNANDO COUNTY, Fla. – Getting ready for back to school is always a stressful time, especially this fall.


What You Need To Know

  • Hernando County Sheriff's Office, school district hold backpack giveaway

  • 3,000 backpacks were given out on Saturday

  • Organizers said they want students to be ready for school

Aside from making sure kids have all their school supplies, parents are having to decide whether to send the kids back to the classroom or do online learning. The Hernando County Sheriff's Office and the school district is helping out with that.

“We wanted to get everybody into one place and wanted to do this at one time. We have 3,000 backpacks this year that we put together,” deputy Michael Woodward said. 

Family and community engagement organizer, Ivette Mendoza said, “When families get these supplies, they need to know that it was from the love and kindness of our community.” 

Each backpack is supplied with the basic school supply needs and a safety light for each kid to use as they walk home, 8-year-old Maxim Jasinski just couldn’t hold back he’s excitement

“That’s very cool,” Jasinski said, as he watch Deputy Woodward show him the new light.

“You clip it right on here, just like this and then when you’re walking with your backpack, you make sure you turn that on so people can see you, OK,” the deputy said.

Parents what their thoughts and plan for the upcoming school year. Mary Pfeifer is a grandparent with four kids in the Hernando school district. “We’re hoping they do open up and we work out the safety things with the kids,” she said. “The wearing the mask, they’re all set for it, they just want to see their friends and one of them have a learning disability and we just need that extra encouragement.”

“At the end of last year, we were doing the home schooling thing and its difficult, you never realize how much the teachers do in the classroom until you have to do it yourself,” said Christine Scheuer, who is also a grandparent in the county.

Both families have chosen to send their kids back to the classrooms, they are thankful to not have to worry about the items their kids need to do that.

Scheuer continued: “It’s just tremendous to be able to come here, get the book bag, get the supplies we want.”

“And it helps financially, it’s really good,” Pfeifer said.

Driving away, Jasinski made sure to shout “Thank you for everything,” to all the deputies who braved the heat to make sure thousands of kids were ready to head back to school this fall.