Community Resource Council’s (CRC) Set for Success event is returning to Boothbay Region Elementary School (BRES) on Wednesday, Aug. 28, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. This is the second year the event is there instead of at Boothbay Region YMCA. 

Set for Success will proceed similarly to last year’s festivities with vendors and community organizations in the school’s gym. Each student will receive a raffle ticket from each vendor they visit for a chance to win prizes provided by LincolnHealth, including a bike. Community members are also invited to enjoy a free dinner with BRES Principal Shawna Kurr returning to the grill, alongside Kim Dionne, BRES’s new assistant principal.

All preK-8 students in Boothbay, Edgecomb and Southport are welcome. In addition, homeschooled families are invited to attend and receive school supplies this year. The only requirement is that homeschooling families must be registered through Alternative Organizational Structure 98 before Aug. 28. Homeschoolers of Maine will be manning a table in the vendor’s room. 

“We are thrilled to be able to open this event up to our homeschooled families as they are part of our community,” said Kurr. “We want to support and celebrate school starting up again with all of our students on the peninsula.”

Before the main event, BRES will host an open house from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. for families to meet teachers and see classrooms before school starts. School supplies have been supplied directly to teachers again this year, so parents don’t have to send them in. 

According to Kurr, this format is easier for families and students as it gives them one less thing to worry about on the first day of school, and one less thing children have to carry. As for what these supplies will be carried in, LL Bean backpacks will be given out to PreK students (they also get lunchboxes) and second, fourth and seventh graders and any new students. 

“This event is my favorite of the year. I remember my very first year at BRES when the event was at the YMCA. I stood at the top of the track overlooking the field house and nearly cried at the amazing display of community in front of me. It was unlike anything I had seen in my previous schools. It’s truly special and unique to this community,” said Kurr. 

She also offered special thanks to all of the volunteers and organizations that make the free event possible, including CRC, LincolnHealth, and the Y.