West Side New Beginnings hosts backpack, platter giveaway
West Side New Beginnings and local businessman Shayne Brittingham got local students ready for school by giving away backpacks full of school supplies and barbecue chicken platters Aug. 23 in West Rehoboth. It was the fifth year for the giveaway, but it grew in size this year to honor West Side New Beginnings co-founder Diaz Bonville, who died about a year ago.
Bonville and Brenda Milbourne started West Side New Beginnings in 1990. A little more than a decade later in 2002, the West Rehoboth Children and Youth Program was established. He died Sept. 14, 2024.
Dilinda Deshields is Bonville’s daughter and West Side New Beginnings executive director. This was one of her father’s favorite times of the year, because he loved setting up the students for a successful school year, she said.
Deshields said 100 backpacks were collected and stuffed with school supplies. All will be distributed because there’s a need, she said.
Personal hygiene products were included among the supplies, because, said Deshields, students need those too, and it’s about preparing them for success from day one of the new school year.
In addition to backpacks, Brittingham provided food and barbecue platters for the adults in attendance.
Brittingham said he knew Bonville his whole life through Mt. Pleasant Church, which is located near West Side New Beginnings. The giveaway was spurred by a conversation the two had in 2020 about the need for school supplies and backpacks for children in the area.
“That conversation stirred the passion of outreach that has always been in my heart,” said Brittingham, who is the CEO of S.E. Brittingham Enterprises. “Mr. Bonville meant so much to me. He always let me know how proud he was of me.”
The morning of the giveaway, Brittingham said Bonville was in his head while he was installing the sign posts for the banners, which were ever so slightly askew.
“He was talking to me, telling me that I know they don’t have to be perfect,” said Brittingham, smiling.
For more information on West Side New Beginnings, 19801 Norwood St., Rehoboth Beach, call Deshields at 302-381-5616 or call the center at 302-227-5442.
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to reflect the correct phone number to call for more information on West Side New Beginnings.
Chris Flood has been working for the Cape Gazette since early 2014. He currently covers Rehoboth Beach and Henlopen Acres, but has also covered Dewey Beach and the state government. He covers environmental stories, business stories and random stories on subjects he finds interesting, and he also writes a column called Choppin’ Wood that runs every other week. He’s a graduate of the University of Maine and the Landing School of Boat Building & Design.
