That’s right! Owensboro Parent turns FOUR next month and we are ready to celebrate with another Birthday BASH! This year there will be inflatables, train rides, vendor booths, lots of give aways, and of course birthday cake!
Owensboro Parent is excited to be partnering with Independence Bank, as well as Daviess County and Owensboro Public Schools to offer something new this year– a CoverKids Photo Booth, where you can have your child photographed for a chance to be on the cover of Owensboro Parent Magazine! It will cost $1 for each child to be photographed and entered for the chance to be featured on the cover.
All proceeds of the CoverKids Photo Booth will be donated to both Daviess County and Owensboro Public Schools weekend backpack program, which Independence Bank has been supporting since January 2014.
“We started this program feeding 30 students a week,” said Cindy Morgan, Loan Documentation Manager at Independence Bank. “And as of the end of this school year we have collected over $2,200, increased our number to 40 students in two schools a week and we have supplied another school with 20 new backpacks.”
Darrell Higginbotham, Independence Bank President, says that there is a growing need for nutritional food and snacks for school age children once they leave school for the weekends. Both Daviess County and Owensboro Public Schools have adopted and implemented backpack programs to address this very issue.
Because Independence Bank supports this program, Higginbotham volunteers in the school systems. “One kindergartner had a sore on her thumb,” Higginbotham said. “When I asked about her thumb, she said she chewed on her thumb when she was hungry.”
According to the Kentucky Department of Education, 56 percent of Kentucky’s students (K-12) were eligible for free or reduced lunch in 2010. Locally nearly 50 percent of Daviess County students qualify for free and reduced lunch and Owensboro Public Schools offers free lunch to all of their students K-8.
So this year, OPM decided we want to help. We encourage you to come out to the Birthday BASH! on August 2nd and enjoy a day of fun with your kids. Enter for a chance for your child to be on the cover and help us make sure more local children benefit from the backpack program.
CoverKid>> Meet Griffin Gaddis, although he may look familiar to you. Griffin was the very first CoverKid on the first issue of Owensboro Parent in August 2011. Griffin Hugh Gaddis was born to Lindsay and Chris Gaddis on June 1, 2010. Griffin is little brother to Molly, now 8, and Blair, now 2. He was just one when the he was voted as OPM’s first CoverKid and at that time loved the outdoors, swimming, riding his 4-wheeler and playing with cars, trucks and any kids of sports ball!
Now at age 5, Griffin is still just as full of personality. “He never meets a stranger,” said mom, Lindsay. Griffin is obsessed with baseball. In fact, he was playing in a championship game the day this issue of OPM went to print. He loves super heroes and anything boy according to his mom. Griffin will attend preschool at Settle Memorial in the fall and will start kindergarten next school year, but Griffin already knows his alphabet, can count above level, and has even mastered some math! Excited to be featured on the cover of OPM for the second time, Griffin got all dressed up and had his hair cut before his photo shoot. Lindsay said, “He’s a little ham! He is pretty excited and will probably brag to his friends!”