Sheriff’s Office hosts annual backpack giveaway for kids in need

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office went way out Aug. 6 for kids in the Wimauma Boys & Girls Club summer program at the HCSO Back-to-School Backpack Splash; the event furnished each child with a colorful backpack filled with school supplies.
Representing Sheriff Chad Chronister, HCSO Major Bob Ura, District 4 commander, emceed and thanked the following community partners for making the giveaway possible: Ed Bricker and Cassandra Krause, of the Vista Palms Homeowners Association; the Boys & Girls Club of Tampa Bay; Balm residents Joe and Vicky Sumner and the 6ixthelement Barbershop of Brandon, which provided 27 haircuts.
Mirroring the sentiments of Wimauma Boys & Girls Club Director Ronnie Peacock, who said the event “…means everything to the families involved,” Community Resource Deputy Jeff Merry said,
“I definitely appreciate all the residents of Sun City Center who helped these kids in need have all the supplies they need to start school. Otherwise, they would have started day one without even a pencil.”

Lois Kindle

Ja’nyla Stevens, 6, is all smiles after choosing a colorful backpack filled with school supplies at the Hills -borough County Sheriff’s Office Back-to-School Backpack Splash Aug. 6 at the Wimauma Boys & Girls Club.

Maj. Robert Ura, HCSO District 4 commander, helps a child get the backpack she wants from a table of more than 60, purchased by Joe and Nikki Sumner of Balm.

Wimauma Boys and Girls Club summer program attendees Jamie Alacon, left foreground, and Giselle Sanchez get an up-close look at several horses from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office Mounted Enforcement Team during the Back-to-School Backpack Splash Aug. 6. LOIS KINDLE PHOTOS

HCSO SWAT team member Trey Larsen talks about what his unit does and the kinds of calls it handles with a group of Boys & Girls Club summer program attendees in Wimauma during this year’s Back-to-School Backpack Splash Aug. 6.

HCSO Canine Unit Deputy and his 3-year-old partner, a Belgian Malinois named Gus.

Micheal Wright, of the HCSO Bomb Squad, brought along one of five robots used during bomb scares to show the kids at the Wimauma Boys & Girls Club Aug. 6.

Andrew Lynch, a deputy from the HCSO Underwater Recovery Team, demonstrates one of the tools his unit uses. Standing beside him is Gibsonton Community Resource Deputy Billy Nixon.

Choosing the right backpack was difficult for some of the 60 children who took part in the HCSO Back-to-School Backpack Splash Aug. 6 at the Wimauma Boys & Girls Club. From left are Victoria Rivera, Jeremiah Tamargo, Eduardo Gonzalez and Osvaldo Lopez. LOIS KINDLE PHOTOS

Pilots Jeff Gray and Matthew Bodin, left, and flight officer Carl Rupp, of the HCSO Aviation Unit, stand beside a helicopter they brought for the kids to check out at the Wimauma Boys & Girls Club Aug. 6.

More than 60 colorful backpacks, filled with school supplies collected by the United Methodist Church of Sun City Center and Temple Beth Israel, await selection by summer program attendees.

This is an up-close look at the interior of an HCSO helicopter. In the background, children visit with members of the HCSO Mounted Enforcement Team.

Wimauma Boys & Girls Club kids, visiting the HCSO Bomb Squad display, look up to watch a sheriff’s office helicopter fly overhead during the HCSO Back-to-School Backpack Splash Aug. 6.

Deputy Crystal McClelland, of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office Mounted Enforcement Team and Agricultural Crimes Unit, center, and two members of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Mounted Civilian Auxiliary, Deidre Premo, left, and Vickie Oliva, brought their horses for the children to see and pet. The horses’ names are Tucker, left, Cool Dude and Champs.

Five-year-old Yoselin Moreno can barely lift the free, glittery backpack, filled with all kinds of school supplies from the HCSO Back-to-School Backpack Splash.