JEANERETTE — Juanita Stansbury was content to spend her Saturday changing out the carpet in her home. Thankfully, she remembered the second annual School Day school supply giveaway going on at the West St. Mary Civic Center.

The Baldwin mother of two arrived just after noon with 4-year-old Amouri Stansbury and 13-year-old JaQuarius Stansbury, happy to pick up school supplies, which were being given away free thanks in part to efforts by Creole Creations and the St. Mary Parish LaChip office. She also signed up for the grand prize Compaq laptop computer drawing.

“I came at 12:30 p.m. and did all the registration,” Stansbury said. “I was told not to leave because you had to be there for the drawing if you put your name in for the computer. I said, ‘I’m not going anywhere because my kids want to get their face painted and everything.’ I told my daughter that if y’all can get this computer, it would be a blessing because I wouldn’t have to buy it for y’all.”

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A few minutes after that conversation, Juanita Stans-bury’s name was called and the only question was whe-ther she could claim the prize before her time limit ran out.

“I was coming down the stairway, and I couldn’t get through so my two minutes were about to be up, but I got it,” she said. “It is so much of a blessing. I actually had a good feeling. It’s like there were a little nerves so if I’m nervous, my named must be about to be called.”

Stansbury said her daughter JaQuarius, a seventh grader at B. Edward Boudreaux Middle School, is the most excited person in the house about the family’s new computer.

The Stansburys were not the only happy ones Saturday. More than a dozen additional drawing winners left the civic center with either school uniform vouchers or a supercenter gift card. Plus, all students in attendance re-ceived free school supplies.

Giveaway bags were packaged for either elementary, middle or high school students and came full of composition tablets, ink pens, pencils, folders, loose-leaf paper, rulers, crayons, pencil sharpeners, scissors, binders and glue.

Anybody was welcome to receive the supplies Saturday, with the only requirement being parents or guardians had to have their children present to receive supply bags. By the time the day was over, School Day organizers said 500 supply bags were given out.

Regional LaChip Out-reach Coordinator Venes-sa Simmons said Satur-day’s effort had nothing to do with income.

“To have children going back to school and have a long list of things they need can be very daunting,” she said. “Plus, you don’t want your child to feel bad because they are the only one in the classroom without something they need. Everybody is hurting right now. This is to give back. We can’t give the children everything, but this is going to help.”

Creole Creations executive director Kina Sweet helped organize the event, and she said everything went well, describing the day as “great.”

“As far as children and actually giving out school supplies, we’re looking at 500 children,” she said. “There is nothing left. I was bracing for the worst and bracing for the best at the same time. The turnout was awesome. I wouldn’t mind doing this again.”

Volunteers started working at the civic center at 8 a.m. When doors opened at 10 a.m., a line reaching from the door to the parking lot was already formed. Organizers had the crowd move inside to the gymnasium stands to wait for registration instead of standing outside in the heat.

Attending families also received a ticket redeem-able for a free hotdog lunch. Besides the school supply giveaway, parents had the chance to walk a 10-booth informational fair, which provided details on financial literacy, home owning steps, health care services, medication ave-nues and STD prevention tips.

Co-sponsor 100 Black Men of St. Mary Inc. also had a booth set up, along with the Teche Action Clinic’s West St. Mary School Health Center.