For Gaven Norris, it’s all about paying it forward.
Norris, who himself is a product of Ector County ISD, now wants today’s kids at ECISD to have as many opportunities for success as possible.
One way to help with that has been his law firm’s annual School Supply Giveaway.
“Every year, we’re looking at ways to give back to the community,” Norris said. “One of our focuses is how can we help kids first and then their family. It’s one way that we find a way to give back to families that are in need of school supplies, especially in this economy where everything isn’t cheap so we can help out, especially with education. That’s important to us. Really, education is a big deal. I wouldn’t be here without it. This is my way of giving back.”
The event has been going on for four years now and this year’s drive-up event will take place starting at 8 a.m. July 15 at 1000 W. Clements St. in Odessa.
The giveaway will last until the law firm runs out.
This year, there will be about 530 backpacks and school supplies for students from K-12.
A child must be present in order to receive a backpack. Only one will be given to each child.
The number of backpacks that have been given out has more than doubled since 2018.
“When we started this a couple years ago, we were giving about 200 backpacks,” Norris said. “We’re blessed to increase the amount of backpacks each year. Last year, we did 400 and this year is about 530 backpacks that we’ll be giving out.”
The backpacks are full of school supplies.
“We have the Ector County school supply list so we have all the schools supplies from the Ector County list,” Norris said. “We have backpacks from k-12. We have everything from a clear backpack to a high school student and junior high student and cartoon back packs for the kids. 500 is what we targeted. We’re also going to give a portion of those to the Ector County Detention Center for the students there too.”
This year, the Norris’ law firm will be partnering with Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity in which Norris is also a part of.
“One of the big models of the fraternity is to make sure they give back to the community,” Norris said. “It’s a service project. I’m a member of them. They’re partnering with us to help give out backpacks and help support the community that way.”
For Norris, being able to give back to the community is important.
“It’s everything,” Norris said. “As I matriculated through my early education years, I was a recipient of many people through the community who gave back. … we’ve been blessed to have the opportunity to do the same for another child. It’s just a way for us to give back and pay it forward.
“There’s another Gaven Norris out there. There’s another Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. Sometimes we just need people to help us because of family situations or social economic situations. If this little bit helps a kid fulfill their dreams, then we’ve done what we’ve needed to do. If it helps some family out, it means a lot. Those of us who grew up here in Ector County and came through the public school system through ECISD, we take everything that has been given to us and we leave and we don’t give anything back. We can’t keep taking water from the proverbial well without putting more back into it. This is our way of putting more water back into the proverbial well.”
While the schedule says the event will run from 8-11 a.m., Norris has warned that they will probably run out of supplies in under three hours.
“Normally, in the past, we’ve run out in about two hours,” Norris said. “We expect to be done by about 10 a.m. People should come early. I think last year, people started lining up at 6 a.m. for this.”
If you go
- What: Norris Law firm School Supply Giveaway.
- When: 8 a.m.-11 a.m. (or when they run out) July 15.
- Where: 1000 W. Clements St.
- On the net: tinyurl.com/ybuxm8bx
