Inspired Hearts and Hands of Mars teamed up Thursday with the Butler Area School District to help some elementary school students get ready for the upcoming school year and have a day of fun.

About 300 students from Broad Street and Emily Brittain elementary schools and their parents showed up for SummerFest 2021 at Broad Street Elementary School in Butler.

Inspired Hearts and Hands collected 5,000 clothes and household items that families took home, and provided food and refreshments for the daylong festival. Some teachers from both schools volunteered to help and play music.

“It's so heartwarming to see the interaction with the students,” said Mindy Schnitgen of Inspired Hearts and Hands.

She said the volunteer organization approached the school district about the event, which was intended to let students and parents meet teachers and prepare for the first day of classes in the 2021-22 school year on Aug. 26.

Food boxes containing two weeks of nonperishable food were given to each family, Schnitgen said.

Representatives from the Center for Community Resources, Butler Family YMCA, Glade Run Lutheran Services, Slippery Rock University, United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania and Butler Health System also attended to provide parents with information about the services they offer.

“This is the idea of a village coming together to benefit students and the community,” said Vanessa Boyd, Broad Street principal.

More activities have been scheduled.

Jump Start Kindergarten will be conducted at all district elementary schools from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Aug. 24 to give parents an opportunity to meet kindergarten teachers and Back to School Night open houses will be conducted at the schools the same day from 6 to 7 p.m. to give parents of first- through fourth-grade students a chance to meet those teachers.

The first day of classes will be a community event called the Downtown Elementary Schools Welcome Walk, and Cassandra Pencek, principal of Emily Brittain Elementary.

Residents will be asked to cheer and applaud from their homes as students walk by on their way to their schools. Signs will be placed in some yards, she said.

“We want people to cheer them on as they walk to school,” Pencek said. “We'll ask people to put up signs and applaud the kids. We want everybody to come out.”

Boyd said she will visit residents to encourage them to participate.