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Date: 7/30/2015
SPRINGFIELD – The Convoy of Hope, a five-hour event designed to provide people with necessary goods and services, returns to Riverfront Park on Aug. 15.
The event is sponsored by 75 local churches and will have more than 1,500 volunteers, David McCoy, one of the organizers told Reminder Publications. The event was last conducted in 2013 when about 6,000 people participated. This year he said, the organizers expect 10,000.
Convoy of Hope provides new shoes for children, hair cuts, family portraits, information about community programs, nutrition education, breast health services, an area for children with a bounce house, immunizations, job ands career services and entertainment, McCoy said. There will be a meal served and participants will walk away from the event with a bag of groceries.
McCoy explained there would be no registration and no identification required. The event will take place rain or shine and will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The event will have a volunteer rally the night before and mayors from Hampden County will issue a group proclamation at the Bethany Assembly of God, 580 Main St., in Agawam at 7 p.m. Aug. 14.
Another organizing committee member Eddie Case of the Hampden County Sheriff’s department, said the health services offered at the Convoy of Hope will be a like a “mini-Baystate.” There will be doctors and nurses providing a wide range of services.
Case added Goodwill of the Pioneer Valley would be giving clothing to the participants.
The event is funded through contributions from the participating churches, McCoy explained, as well as from businesses and individuals. Donations are tex deductible, he added, and further information can be obtained by calling Deb Thompson at 789-2930, ext. 135.
The budget to make the event happen is more than a $100,000, McCoy said, but the goods and services to be offered to people will be worth $1 million.
Case said the majority of the people came from Springfield’s North End and South End neighborhood s in 2013 and this year the organization is “marketing heavily to Holyoke, Chicopee and West Springfield.”
He added, “We’re trying to just give them hope.”
McCoy recalled the line for the 2013 event stretched to the Basketball Hall of Fame. “It was very well organized,” he said. “We didn’t have any issues.”
He added, “This is a hand up, not a hand out.”
For more information, go to www.convoyofhope.org/outreach/springfield.