Pictured are representatives of Bowe Electronics. Pictured are Julian Knowles Office Manager and Standre Moss Technician Specialist of Bowe Electronics. (Photo: Abria Cooper)

Bowe Electronics hosted a huge back-to-school giveaway on Saturday (August 27), where over 1,000 children received school supplies to help prepare them for the new school year.

The Freeport News spoke to Operations Manager of Bowe electronics Julian Knowles at their Downtown Freeport location about the successful event.  According to Knowles, Antwan Simms, the company’s CEO and Human Resource Manager Diameter Newton organized the initiative.

“This whole idea has been his brainchild to give back to the community here in Freeport where we have been experiencing a lot of difficulties. So, this is Mr. Simms’ way of giving back and letting the community know that someone is thinking about them,” he said.

Knowles stated that they had planned the event for about 700-900 children, but unexpectedly many more came. It was later estimated that about 1,200 children showed up at the giveaway.

“Everybody was well taken care of though. They had hamburgers and hotdogs all throughout the day and bouncing castles for the kids,” he said.

According to Knowles this is the third back-to-school giveaway that Bowe Electronics has ever had, but it was especially important to have because so many people in Grand Bahama have fallen on hard times financially and they need as much help as they can get.

“Just to watch the kids sit down and eat all day, some of them seemed like they hadn’t had a meal like that in a while. It was nice and it did your heart well to see that,” he commented.

Each child was given a backpack filled with about $45-$60 worth of school supplies such as books, pens, pencils, and rulers.  The giveaway was economically beneficial in more ways than one because local vendors joined to sell their merchandise at the event.

“We had about 60-70 extra vendors that came at the last minute that were able to get a days pay,” he said.

Knowles added that some children even received $25 gift certificates to Bellevue Gifts & Supplies. He finally said that overall he feels like the event was a success and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and he also mentioned that the company may host a similar giveaway that is geared towards adults in the near future.

By: Abria Cooper