Students and their families browsed tables full of free school supplies and books in Keizer Rapids Park on Tuesday at a new annual back-to-school event by Claggett Creek Middle School.  The first annual “Panthers in the Park” was designed to help students and their families connect with scho ol staff. A second event will be held from 4-6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 3, in Claggett Creek Park.  Attendees chatted with school employees and student volunteers as they browsed tables with binders and pencil pouches and books that could be found in a school library. They entered raffle tickets for free backpacks, water bottles and baskets with sports equipment and board games.  At a row of tables next to the supplies, families connected with representatives from the Boys and Girls Club of Salem, Marion and Polk counties, Valor Mentoring, Youth Era, Liberty House and other local organizations.  Children played cornhole in the grass, and students connected with each other. Someone costumed as Claggett Creek’s school mascot, a panther, wandered the area. One family told Salem Reporter they were drawn by the free school supplies. Some students who volunteered to help with the event said they did so for fun.  Anna Navarro, a student volunteer, said she hoped to help others see that “school can be fun, it’s not just a seven-hour prison.”  Max Stark, an incoming first grader at Kennedy Elementary School, focuses while playing corn hole during Claggett Creek Middle School’s Panthers in the Park event on Tuesday, Sept. 1. Stark came to the event with his families to get school supplies for a sibling. (KRISTA KROISS/Salem Reporter) A man flips through books available for free during Claggett Creek Middle School’s Panthers in the Park event on Tuesday, Sept. 1. Free books and school supplies were available to attendees. (KRISTA KROISS/Salem Reporter) Youth Era, Liberty House and the Boys and Girls Club of Salem, Marion and Polk Counties were among organizations with tables at Claggett Creek Middle School’s Panthers in the Park event on Tuesday, Sept. 1. Held in Keizer Rapids Park, the event provided free books and school supplies to families. (KRISTA KROISS/Salem Reporter) Anna Navarro talks with attendees during Claggett Creek Middle School’s Panthers in the Park Event on Tuesday, Sept. 1. She hoped to help others see that “school can be fun” during the event. (KRISTA KROISS/Salem Reporter) Robert Cox, counselor at Claggett Creek Middle School, helps a family select free school supplies during the school’s Panthers in the Park event on Tuesday, Sept. 1. Free binders, pencil pouches and more were available. (KRISTA KROISS/Salem Reporter.) Backpacks, water bottles, board games and more were available as raffle prizes during Claggett Creek Middle School’s Panthers in the Park on Tuesday, Sept. 1. School employees and student volunteers also handed out free books and school supplies. (KRISTA KROISS/Salem Reporter) The post Claggett Creek families find supplies, resources at first ‘Panthers in the Park’ appeared first on Salem Reporter. ...read more read less