Back to School Fair in Pahrump distributed over 1,000 backpacks filled with school supplies

A long line filled with excited families awaiting free school supplies stretched outside of Pahrump Valley High School at this year’s Back to School Fair on Saturday, July 26.

“Every year I look forward to seeing this grow, getting more vendors, so that we’re able to support our rural community and provide for our children. They’re our future,” said Pamela Smith, who goes by Pam, one of the event’s organizers.

The event ran from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. but the line of eager families extended outside Pahrump Valley High School 30 minutes prior to the start.

“It’s great that the community is offering something like this to the families here,” said Crystal Meyer, who was at the event with her nieces and nephew.

Meyer said she was surprised to learn the fair existed but is extremely grateful that so many people worked together to make it happen.

“It helps a lot of families who need it. It’s good to see the engagement. At the end of the day, it helps a lot,” said parent Luis Banuelos. “It’s great to see that they’re still doing this. I’ve been coming to this event for a long time.”

Alongside the large attendance of families, various vendors filled the halls of Pahrump Valley High School. Many groups and organizations from Pahrump and the Las Vegas metropolitan area were tabling at the event, giving out school supplies.

“Everyone has very different things going on in life and back to school can be very stressful. Both emotionally and financially,” said Derek Griffith of Mind Space Mental Health, a well-being clinic in Pahrump.

Griffith, a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner, explained that Pahrumpians might not be aware that there’s a local resource for mental well-being. Griffith stressed the importance of helping at the event, but also hoped people will learn there are services available for mental health needs.

“Since we’re all one Nevada, we like to help everyone,” said Denise Damogsac from the Asian Community Resource Center, a non-profit outreach organization in Las Vegas. “It’s special for me to be here because my parents live in Pahrump. So, we always try to help out the community here.”

Although called the Asian Community Resource Center, the group offers services for everyone. They offer help in Southern Nevada communities with services for health insurance, food assistance, and other programs. Alongside aiding in English, they also offer help in Tagalog, Samoan, Mandarin, and Spanish.

One of the special services offered at the fair was free physicals for middle school and high school students.

“We’re one of the head groups that helps with physicals in Pahrump, Beatty, and Amargosa,” said Tylor Harrison from Pahrump Pain Free, a chiropractic office in town. “It’s nice to be out here to help support students with their back-to-school needs.”

Another one of the special offerings at the Back to School Fair was free car seats and booster seats given to families by the NyE Communities Coalition.

“We’re saving kids’ lives by being here today,” said Tonopah Programs Manager Jess Rosner from the NyE Communities Coalition.

Rosner explained the importance of caregivers using child safety seats and was fortunate to help spread that message at the event.

“We have around 55 vendors here today,” said Coalition and Community Building Manager MaryRose Parkman of the Coalition and one of the event organizers. “It’s an amazing outpouring of support from all these organizations.”

According to Parkman, this year’s Back to School Fair was the biggest they’ve seen in the over 15 years the event has been happening. Parkman said they distributed 1,000 backpacks filled with school supplies at the event.

While their initial goal was to serve 550 students at the event, Parkman is proud they exceeded that number significantly.

Besides the backpacks given away at the Back to School Fair, Parkman says another 300 backpacks were distributed to students in other rural Nevada counties and to the Duckwater-Shoshone tribal community.

“I’d like to thank Pahrump, the school district, all of our community partners, and our board of directors,” said Parkman with gratitude. “We’ve all been working hard on this since April, so it’s incredible to see the turnout.”

Contact reporter Elijah Dulay at edulay@pvtimes.com