Store Director Chad Davis was all smiles. This afternoon was Academy Sports and Outdoors back-to-school shopping spree, and Davis could hardly contain his excitement.
“Academy as a company does this every year. We love it! It’s exciting to be part of the community and to see the smiles on the kids’ faces,” he said.
As part of the shopping spree, students from the Boys and Girls club were given $100 gift cards to spend on shoes, backpacks, or “whatever they wanted” for the first day of school.
“We have 31 kids shopping today,” said Ryan Bibb, Director of Operations for Owensboro Boys and Girls Club. Twelve of those kids were from the Wightman Unit, and 19 were from the Mike Horn Unit, including some students from Rockport. “These kids have been looking forward to this for weeks. They ask about it every day,” Bibb said.
Two Boys and Girls Club board members shopped with some of the kids as well. “This little guy already found a pair of shoes. He has $40 left, so now we’re looking at boots,” said board member Chris Poynter, Telecommunications Superintendent at Owensboro Municipal Utilities.
A few aisles over, an employee helped two students pick out backpacks.
“We’re just overwhelmed by this,” Owensboro Boys and Girls Club Director Steve Winkler said. “Doing this right before school is exciting because it gives our kids a more equal playing field when they show up on the first day of school. Chad and all the staff here at Academy Sports and Outdoors are making reality come true for these kids.”
But if you ask Davis, it’s hard to tell who’s enjoying the shopping spree more – the kids or the employees.
“We had such a great success at our grand opening ‘give back’ event with the Boys and Girls Club that I knew we wanted to reach out to them again for this,” Davis said.
“It’s good to partner with Academy Sports, a company that wants to give back to the community,” Bibb said. “This is what our job is all about – giving back to the kids.”
