Back to School Bash aims to give Thurston County youth a running start at the school year

Orion Watch Community Outreach Programs, a Thurston County non-profit organization with the mission of restoring hope for juveniles and adults impacted by the justice system by providing tools, relationships and opportunities, aimed to give back to the youth of the region with its second annual Back to School Bash event on Sunday, Aug. 23, at the Thurston County Fairgrounds.

JD Jones Barton, founder of Orion Watch Community Outreach Programs, said it’s good to be intentional about reaching the youth experiencing troubling conditions before it becomes a crisis.

“It takes all of us to be the founders or collaborators,” Barton Jones said. “I just want to give back to my community. I know what it’s like to be a lost kid in a broken system and I want to bridge those gaps and connect the dots so we can have a better opportunity for kids to be successful.”

Jones Barton added that’s where Orion Watch is focusing all its time and energy, but noted that not one non-profit organization can do it all.

“That’s why we all came out today. We got some non-profits to work with and there’s a plethora of different services that are out here. It takes all of us. Not one person can do it all,” he said. “A lot of these non-profits get caught up in political whatever, and you have to be bipartisan. You have to take both sides to come together and find common ground.”

Jones Barton noted this is the second annual Back to School Bash. Last year, Orion Watch got in contact with the Thurston County Juvenile Court and realized there’s a huge disparity and that a lot of the kids seeking outreach grow up in broken homes, face probation, diversion or truancies.

“This time, we want to branch out and reach the whole Pac Mountain region to make sure these kids have the opportunities,” Jones Barton said. “We got free haircuts for everybody. That’s our focus — being able to give the kids an opportunity and meet them where they’re at, and make sure they can go to school with a fresh haircut, a new backpack and some school supplies.”

Candis Hannah, co-owner of Orion Watch Community Outreach Programs alongside Jones Barton, said serving at-risk youth and at-risk adults and helping them get back into the community to survive, thrive and be sustainable is important work to her.

“It’s one thing to give someone a lot of stuff, but it’s another thing to help them become self-sustaining,” Hannah said. “Last year, when we started, there were about 150 people. This year, it’s projected to reach around 5,000 people. I just wanted to add that on there because there’s something really imperative. Statistics show that when kids don’t have something to do after school or are already struggling in school, the likelihood of them swinging into patterns of behavior that their family members or parents display is highly likely.”

She said that’s why Orion Watch wants to continue to keep the youth in classrooms and out of courtrooms. She desires breaking that repeating cycle.

“Children might make up 30% or 40% of our population, but they’re 100% of our future,” Hannah said.

Heidi Mitchell, a self-proclaimed longtime Yelm-ite and a volunteer at the Back to School Bash event, said Orion Watch Community Outreach Programs aimed to bring the community together and help local youth prepare for the upcoming school year with supplies.
Her role in Orion Watch Community Outreach Programs is to promote workforce development.

“I’ve been in the trades for 11 years and I absolutely love what I do. It changed my life for the better,” Mitchell said. “I wasn’t always the best kid, but having this purpose in my life, providing for my children on a single income, is one of the most pertinent things in my life. I’ve seen too many kids get lost in the system or get in trouble in school and just start that path, and then they have no other outlet for their life. They don’t know anything outside.”

She believes that, through the trades, kids will have an opportunity to learn an actual skill that they can use in their professional lives and at home — leading to a sense of accomplishment or pride in what they do.

“I love the workforce,” Mitchell said. “I hope more kids can get into it and get the skills they need so they don’t have to rely on violence or crime or jail.”

Joshua Oliva, a volunteer with Orion Watch Community Outreach Programs and All in a Day’s Work, said youth outreach is where his heart is at.

Every Friday night from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Lacey Cafe Elite, located 130 Marvin Rd SE, he helps host a youth-oriented open mic night with free food, games and dancing provided for the young attendees.

“Heidi does the workforce. JD has his hands in many different pots,” Oliva said. “My main thing is showing up every Friday night and being part of what’s going on there and pouring into the kids. This youth outreach and this thing it’s grown into on its own is a place where the kids can express themselves.”

Tracie Jefferson, founder and president of local non-profit organization Keeping Kids Safe, said she started the non-profit out as a response to the “child welfare crisis” facing Washington state and local communities.

Keeping Kids Safe was one of several non-profit organizations present at the Back to School Bash.

“The way we keep kids in the classrooms and out of courtrooms is we preserve the innocence of their childhood,” Jefferson said. “We can’t do that if we’re leaving them for too long or neglectful or in unsafe circumstances. It puts them on the wrong path for life. We’ve got to wrap around them in the community.”

She said her non-profit organization wanted to attend the Back to School Bash to partner with other organizations in supporting youth.
Jefferson, as children stood in line to have their faces painted and played yard games, said the Back to School Bash is what the innocence of childhood should look like.

“It should look like facepaint. It should look like ring toss,” Jefferson said. “It should not look like ‘how do I survive while my parent uses fentanyl?’ It shouldn’t look like, ‘how do I find food in the jungle? How do I stay alive?’ That’s not what we’re asking our youth to do. We should preserve their childhood because they only get one.”