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NATCHEZ — Adams County Sheriff’s Office and community volunteers hosted a back-to-school supply giveaway on Friday morning at the Adams County Safe Room.

A line of vehicles started to form as early as 7 a.m. on Friday. Cars circled the road around the Safe Room parking lot and lined up by the National Guard Armory all the way to Liberty Road.

The response to the giveaway was proof of the community’s need, Sheriff Travis Patten said.

Patten thanked Premier Search & Rescue for donating supplies and also The Markets, Smith Printing and other individual private donors.

With their help, more than 1,000 drawstring backpacks were filled with masks, hand sanitizer, pencils, face shields, glue, bottled water and other supplies, he said.

Also, approximately 30 volunteers got up early on a hot Friday to helped distribute the supplies and G&S Motor Transport LLC donated their trailer for moving the supplies to the Safe Room.

Leftover supplies would be loaded up and taken into poverty-stricken neighborhoods to reach children who may not have had a ride to the Safe Room Friday morning, Pattens said.

“We had a lot of people who helped make this happen,” he said. “This is just our way of giving back to the community. We’re trying to make sure our kids are ready and have what they need to start the school year safely because of all that is going on with the pandemic, delta and new COVID variants. We want to get these supplies to as many people as we can.”