Fishers Freedom Festival - June 26 - 27, 2010


Backpacks for Kids

roy_hollandIn 1978, Roy G. Holland was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Fishers Town Council.  And the rest they say is history.  He was a strong advocate of unifying the downtown area, new development, development of parks and green spaces, and especially the police and fire departments.  His admiration for the dedication and courage of all the police officers and fire personnel was the source of a strong bond with the two departments. Roy never lost focus of the goals he had in mind or lost sight of the path on how to get there.  He wanted to make Fishers a better place to live for all residents within its boundaries.  Roy was involved in many of the Fishers Freedom Festival activities. He served as the liaison between the Festival Committee and the Fishers Town Council.  In 1999, the festival committee unanimously chose Roy to be its Grand Marshal of the festival. Due to an illness that required hospitalization, Roy was crushed that he was unable to participate in the festivities.  Although he was unable to participate in body, we know he was there in spirit.  Roy G. Holland passed away three days after the festival while serving his last term on the Town Council on June 30, 1999.  Roy served as a Town Councilman for the betterment of the Town of Fishers and its residents from 1978 through his untimely death in 1999.  He unquestionably counted those years as a privilege because he was truly in love with his wife, his family, and the Town of Fishers.

The Fishers Freedom Festival initiated this new program in 2000 called “The Roy Holland Backpack for Kids Program.”  Since the inception of this program over 1,500 backpacks have been distributed to HSE students.  During the annual Fishers Freedom Festival the Festival Committee will be collecting donations of new backpacks and school supplies for students in the Hamilton Southeastern School District.  Items can be brought to the Kroger Food Drive Tent or placed in one of the Kroger grocery carts that will be scattered throughout the park.

School supplies needed are new backpacks, 3″ binders, notebook paper, spiral notebooks, calculators, pencils, pens, erasers, notebook dividers, boxes of thin color markers, colored pencils, assorted color folders and pencil pouches.