Thursday, October 1, 2026
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Cherryville, NC (WNN) - Annually, before students return to the classroom, the Cherryville Area Ministries brings Cherryville’s local churches together to ensure our children have everything they need. The One Body One Mission School Supply Drive helps hundreds of these students across all grade levels by providing a backpack for each.
The bookbags are filled to the brim with what various students may need. To ensure a spot, parents preregistered, and this year, 68 students were set to receive backpacks meant for them. These are filled with your standard school supplies, such as notebooks, pencils, and markers, each tailored to a grade level. However, this does not mean that any children are expected to be left out. In addition to registered guests, the drive prepares 10 bags for each grade level to be given out to those who show up on the day of.
One Body One Mission School Supply Drive - Mount Zion Baptist Church - Cherryville, NC - August 8, 2026
Mason Beam (WNN)
These supplies are gathered by Cherryville churches. This includes First and Second Baptist, United Methodist, Minister of God, St. John's Lutheran, St Mark's Lutheran, Tamera Hardin's church, the Presbyterian church, as well as Mount Zion, which hosted the event. The first portion of the drive involves donating supplies or money to CAM, which in turn prepares backpacks for the children. With last year's drive reaching 197 children, this year prepared 198 bags to ensure everyone in need is ready for this year's scholastic journey.
A quick look around the room would reveal that the bags aren’t the only things these students receive. Three local barber shops came out to volunteer their time for the youths. The Sanitary Barber Shop from Cherryville’s Main Street, The Ivy Salon from Lowell, and Body Junction from Kings Mountain all showed up to make sure Cherryville Students returned to school looking their best. Same Hayes, a stylist from Ivy Salon, mentioned how glad she was to show her support again due to not being able to attend the event for some time.
The church members were also making sure that the families got everything they needed. The majority of the room was filled with people enjoying free lunch while going through their newly gotten supplies. Table of Grace at St John's Lutheran served hot dogs, chips, and drinks to each family and to all the volunteers.
However, before one walked through the doors, the extra community support was evident. Members of the Cherryville Police Department, Gaston County Sheriffs, and Hugh’s Pond Fire Department all manned booths with treats for the children. This ranged from candy to bracelets and firefighter hats for the younger students. The fire department even brought out their mascot to take photos with the kids. Scouts from Troop 323 also volunteered their time. The young men could be seen enjoying themselves during the event. As soon as it ended, they were quick to help with tasks like breaking everything down and cleaning to follow up on their earlier job of making sure everything was set up and ready to go.
Overall, each organization was there to ensure that Cherryville students do not go without for the upcoming school year.
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