A trio of brothers in the Darbo/Worthington neighborhood – Damon, Damonate, and Datril Thompson – are taking the lead on organizing a Back to School Block Party at Worthington Park this Sunday, Aug. 28, with a free backpack giveaway, live entertainment and a mini-basketball tournament.
EOTO Culturally Rooted and LessWork Lifestyle have been helping to support the young men as they organize the event.
“EOTO and LessWork are thrilled and honored that these young men reached out to us to support their efforts. It is so inspiring to see their independent efforts to support their own neighborhood,” Tera Wilhelmi, founder and CEO of EOTO, tells Madison365. “This is exactly what we’re hoping to inspire as we continue to support and engage Black youth and young adults in our community – empowering and supporting our future.”
There will be special musical performances at the Block Party by Off da ave, Yatto and C4E Tua.
“We’re really excited to be hosting a Block Party/Back to School thing for the kids and we’ll be giving away backpacks and we’ll have fun things for them to do like bouncy houses,” Damon Thompson says.
“We have three great performers at the event, as well, who will be performing in between the basketball games,” says Datril Thompson. “We will have food trucks at the event with a variety of foods.”
“We’ll have local small businesses and vendors coming through for the event for the community to be able to support their brands, as well,” adds Damontae Thompson.
This is not the brothers’ first Back to School Party.
“We did one on the north side two years ago at an apartment complex. We didn’t have any backpacks, but we did pass on school supplies,” Damon Thompson says. “We had a big arcade trailer which had games like Pac-Man, After Burn, Out Run, skee ball, Space Invaders etc pull up so the kids were able to have fun with that.”
The brothers are hosting their event this Sunday under the name of their production company, GBG, which stands for Guided By God.
“We came up with this idea because we have a lot of little ones among us – little cousins, nephews, etc. like 3-8 years old. We just wanted them to be able to see positive stuff like this – they are from Chicago and that area and they don’t really get to see that,” Datril Thompson says. “We wanted to show them that you can be outside and play and have fun and there also will be people outside who care about you and who will inspire you at the event.
“We’re excited to be handing out backpacks on Sunday. There will be notebooks and supplies and other stuff in there,” he adds. “I didn’t want the kids to just come and show up and just get backpacks and supplies and leave … so there will be all kinds of activities going on for them and good food, as well.”
The Block Party kicks off at 2 p.m. on Sunday at Worthington Park, 3102 Worthington Ave., on Madison’s east side. The brothers hope to give away a ton of backpacks.
“There’s three of us brothers, so I want to come with 300 backpacks. I want it to be a real big event for kids,” Datril Thompson says. “I want a lot of kids to show up. And I just want to see the smiles on their faces.”
