ORANGE PARK – A grandmother with three children walked slowly through the parking lot of the Thrasher-Horne Center last Saturday. The heat was already oppressive with an index surpassing 100 degrees and sweat was rolling down her face.

And yet, she only had two words to describe the Back to School Bash: “A blessing.”

After serving nearly 700 students with their back-to-school needs a year ago a half mile down College Drive at Mercy Support Services, organizers of the all-volunteer event moved to Thrasher-Horne to accommodate more children.

What they didn’t expect was an increase of more than 1,000 students.

“It’s a tremendous event, and so many wonderful hearts are here to make sure that this is pulled off without a hitch,” said Impact Clay CEO Connie Thomas. “We’re so blessed to be here at the beautiful Thrasher-Horne. We thank them so much. This is an expanded event, and we really needed this space.”

Organizing the event was a herculean task. More than 100 volunteers, Mercy Support Services, Impact Clay, Emmanuel Project, the Clay County District Schools, Seeds of Love Ministry, Save2Serve, Kids First of Florida, The Springs Church, Elevate Life Church, Challenge Enterprises, Worth Pursuing Inc., Celebrate Church, River Christian Church, Orange Park Presbyterian Church, Quigley House, Grub Brothers, State Farm, Waste Not Want Not, The Way Free Clinic, Clay County Sheriff’s Office, Clay County Schools District Police Department, Celebrate Recovery, Thrasher-Horne Center, niagra, Creative Memories Event Planning, West Productions, Journey Espanol, Missions, Valkyrie Hair Designs and Studio, Scruffy’s Coffee, Eternal Redeemer Fellowship Church, Clay County Community Services, 121 Financial Credit Union, Parental Responsibility Inspiring Dads Everywhere, Maxsip Telecom, True Life Church, Northeast Florida Area Health Education Centers, Vibes Barbering Lounge, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church of Jacksonville, First Baptist Church of Orange Park, Fresh Ministries, Serve by Design, Wiggins Construction and Cultivate Behavioral Health and Education combined their commitment to serve more than 1,000 families.

The bash took months to organize and collect supplies, and every child got a new bookbag filled with supplies.

“Without this, these children would have gone without,” the grandmother said.

Bookbags were divided into three pick-up locations – elementary, junior high and high school. A school district bus was so filled with donated bags and supplies, seats had to be removed from the back.

“We had 1,500 bags and we picked up some more on the way here. We ended up with 2,000,” said Superintendent David Broskie. “The turnout is amazing.”

Traffic was backed up on College Dr. more than an hour before the line, which stretched from the roadway to the back of the St. Johns State College property, started to move through the maze of help.

Families also were allowed to pick up bags of food from a pantry, as well as free water and gifts from most of the sponsors, and Grub Brothers provided 1,400 breakfast sandwiches.

“It’s hard to take this in,” Thomas said. “It’s wonderful to be here and see all this love and great giving. It’s heartbreaking at the same time.”