Parade of Tables Raises Funds to Provide Food for Local Children

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – The Little Bulldog Backpack Program will be hosting the fourth annual Parade of Tables on Saturday, Feb. 8, at 6 p.m. in the Tucker Student Center at Gardner-Webb University.

The Parade of Tables is organized by Lou Ann Scates, GWU Registrar, to provide funds for the Little Bulldog Backpack Program. In preparation for the event, donors purchase tables to decorate with the option to follow this year’s “Jesus Loves the Little Children” theme. Tables are $160, which includes eight seats per table. Attendees have the opportunity to keep or distribute their eight tickets at $20 each to enjoy a night full of food, fun and generosity. There are 40 tables available for purchase. In past years, nearly all 320 tickets have been sold. Donations are gladly accepted at the event. All profits go directly into the Little Bulldog Backpack program.

The Little Bulldog Backpack Program was created by Scates to provide underprivileged children from two local schools in the Boiling Springs area, Springmore Elementary School and most recently Boiling Springs Elementary, with healthy food delivered in backpacks that are packed every week by the various clubs and departments at Gardner-Webb. The program strives to provide the children options that are both healthy and filling. “When my son was growing up and going to school, I saw kids in his class that I knew were going to bed hungry,” recalled Scates. “I could not imagine a little kid not having enough to eat.”

Scates hopes to continue to grow the backpack program as well as host the Parade of Tables to achieve the ultimate goal of feeding every hungry child in the surrounding area. For more information regarding the Little Bulldog Backpack Program and to purchase a table or tickets, contact Scates at [email protected].

Direct donations of individually packaged, non-perishable food items for the Little Bulldog Backpack Program may be brought to the GWU Registrar’s Office, located in the Dover Campus Center on Gardner-Webb’s main campus. Office hours are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and donations can be brought in any weekday. Cash donations are accepted, and volunteers are also welcomed and needed.

The Little Bulldog Backpack Program provides healthy, non-perishable snacks and backpacks for children in need at Boiling Springs and Springmore Elementary Schools in Cleveland County, N.C.