The Community Church Oxford will host their 7th annual Back to School Bash at the National Guard Old Armory Pavilion on Sunday, August 8 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

CCO’s pastor Fish Robinson said the goal of the church is to embrace all of the communities in Lafayette County, not just Oxford, especially since their church-goers come from all over.

“We hope to support families that need school supplies,” he said.

The event will give out backpacks, notebooks, pencil and erasers to families in need of them, but the Back to School Bash is also a time to celebrate the beginning of a new school year. Lafayette County Schools’ year began Thursday, August 5 and Oxford Schools’  year began Friday, August 6.

“If they don’t need school supplies they are more than welcome to come out and just enjoy the event,” said Robinson

Attendees can look forward to the free hot dogs, hamburgers, beverages and chips. There will even be snow cones that will help cool them off on a hot, summer day. Also, the church will have bouncy houses to entertain the children.

Last year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, CCO dropped off supplies in the Brittany Woods community, Spring Hill, Taylor and Harmontown instead a public event.

The CCO will do a small event again this year at the Harmontown Fire Station in partnership with the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department on Saturday, August 7 from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. There will be complimentary food and school supplies given out.

“We really enjoyed the drive-by last year,” said Robinson. “Harmontown is on the other side of the lake and we have people from there that go to our church. One thing about community church: we’re not just Oxford. We represent the whole community. We want to be able to minister to the whole community — all of Oxford and Lafayette [County]. We’re a church that thrives on serving the community and this is one of the way that we can do that.”

The uptick in COVID-19 cases in Mississippi may make some hesitate, but Robinson believes that everything will be fine.

“We feel like we’ll be spread out enough that people won’t be on top of each other,” said Robinson. “It will be kind of a come-and-go event. People can wear masks if they want to and we’ll have hand sanitizer available. It’s just a way to help us get back to some type of normalcy.”

The CCO hosts year-round, outreach events year  like Trunk or Treat, Cinco de Mayo events in partnership with the Spanish-speaking congregation and events that recognizes service members in the community.

“The church needs to run after people instead of expecting people to come to the church,” said Robinson. “Years ago, those WWJD — What Would Jesus Do?— were so popular but the problem is we’re asking what Jesus would do. Why don’t we do what Jesus did?”