VIDEO: Day Of Hope Provides Fresh Start To School Year

In just one week, Sarasota schools will swing open their doors to students to start a new year.

One organization is making sure homeless students and students in need will have a great start to the school year. 

Nonprofit HopeKids Community organizes an annual event called Day of Hope that provides homeless students and students in need with free school supplies.

At on Saturday, it  was the final of three events this year that featured free shoes, free clothes, free bookbags, free dental and medical exams and so much more.

For organizer and HopeKids founder Pam Hawn, it's about giving parents peace of mind at the start of the school year. On any given night, about 900 kids are homeless in Sarasota County, according to Hawn.

It takes since the beginning of the year to fund-raise and organize three events each year. 

This year, HopeKids received a generous donation from someone who happened to be in the right place.

"A gentleman from Wrangler was sitting at one Sunday when the pastor put out a call to pray for the children and he was a representative of Wrangler, he left service, called his boss and they drop shipped 900 units for us literally the next week," Hawn said. "We had jeans, shirts and all kinds of dresses from Wrangler."

The list is nearly endlesss of what kids received, including a $50 gift card to and $25 gift card to , haircuts, photos, fingerprinting, flouride treatments, a care bag and more.

It costs the organization about $100 per kid to help, and all supplies are donated. What would it take for a parent just to pay for one kid to be prepared for school?

"Probably several hundred dollars because you have your medical exam, your dental exam and your haircut, so hopefully we're providing a service where it is not only saving them money, but time because they get to do this all in one day," Hawn said.

And though some kids could be nervous going to the doctor, some youngsters appeared to be intrigured.

"I think some of the kids are excited. They're staring at the stethoscope and thigns like that," said Samsad Mansoor, a medical student at Florida State University College of Medicine. "One of the kids actually wanted to go to med school, so I gave him a little advice."

Next year, Hawn aims to have Bradenton churches and schools involved to have twice as many events. 

To learn more visit, www.hopekc.org.