ST. LOUIS (August 14, 2025) -- For all the chaos that can come with back-to-school shopping, there’s also that satisfaction of opening your new supplies from the perfectly lined rows, clean labels, and sharp points of a brand-new box of crayons to the crisp corners of a new folder and bright pages of an unused notebook.
Today, Archie, the mascot of the St. Louis Battlehawks, led members of the team’s staff as they joined KidSmart as it hosted its fifth annual $1 Million Distribution Day, providing supplies to help ensure that over 30,000 area students had the necessary school supplies for class.
“We cover the entire St. Louis metro region: 1,000 teachers, serving 1,000 classrooms,”,” said Abbie Enlund, KidSmart’s Vice President of Philanthropy and Development. “Each teacher received $1,000 in supplies including backpacks filled with a whole new set of classroom books, folders, glue, erasers, and notebooks. All the things they need so their students can really access education.”
Pop up tents with piles of supplies and volunteers lined the sides of Clark Street between Ballpark Village and Busch Stadium as the steady stream of teachers drove down the street soon leaving with their trunks filled with goodies—or Archie, who jumped in the back of more than one vehicle and eagerly reached through open windows to honk horns.
“Archie is amazing,” laughed Enlund. “We love having celebrities from the community like Archie and Louie and Fredbird come out. They just bring the party and help to make the teachers feel appreciated.”
More drive-thru events and a walk-in stores are planned as KidSmart has an overall goal of reaching over 90,000 children with supplies this year.
Visit KidSmartSTL.org for more information and the St. Louis Battlehawks Community Page to get involved with more COMMUNITY HUSTLE events.