By partnering with Grapevine Relief and Community Exchange, Grapevine-Colleyville ISD Connect and the Grapevine Colleyville Education Foundation, the Women's Division of the Grapevine Chamber of Commerce will be giving back at one of their largest annual service events, "The Back-To-School Fair" from 9 a.m. to noon on Aug. 9 at Grapevine High School.

The Fair, which originated in the 1980s, is an event that allows the organizations to provide backpacks filled with school supplies to children in grade school who cannot afford them as well as give them an opportunity to talk to various vendors and exhibiters, said Casey Hege, WDGCC president.

"When the original problem was brought to light in the '80s, nobody was helping," she said. "Kids were going to school and getting embarrassed for not having school supplies and the Women's Division wanted to do something about that."

Hege said that the inspiration for her organization to step up and provide school supplies began when one of the members' daughters came home feeling sad for one of the girls at her school who had her name written on the board for not having her school supplies.

"Ever since then we have been helping with the school supplies for those kids in need because we want to help them be the most prepared they can be for success," she said.

Before the drive begins, the Grapevine-Colleyville ISD sends a notice to the families who have children on free or reduced lunch with information on how to apply with GRACE to be able to participate in the fair.

While the initial deadline to sign up for the fair has passed, Marcela Melendez, client services manager, noted that GRACE is currently doing a back-to-school drive for those students who may have missed the deadline, but are still in need.

"While we can't guarantee that they will receive supplies because it depends on how many we receive during the drive, they can still sign up," Melendez said. "Our main purpose of the drive is to see how many additional people we can serve."

Those wanting to donate a pre-filled backpack or make a monetary donation can drop them off at GRACE's main building, 610 Shady Brook Dr.

For more information, contact Melendez at 817-305-4632 or [email protected].