Dorchester Park’s “bowl” along Adams Street was filled with food vendors, fun activities, music, and hundreds of school-age children last Wednesday for the annual Corey C. Griffin Foundation’s (CCGF) Back to School Backpack Giveaway.

Each youngster left with a brand-new bag filled with school supplies, thanks to the foundation and the Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers (MAMLEO), which helped organize the event.

The foundation, named for a young Scituate man who died in 2014 at age 27, is dedicated to keeping his memory alive through service to young people in Boston. According to Corey’s mother, Cathleen A. Griffin, the foundation’s director, “He was inclusive. Everybody in his life, no matter what he was doing, he brought them along. This is what this is about too, just bringing everybody along.” 

Corey’s mother, Cathleen A. Griffin, got to hand out backpacks and school supplies to thousands of kids at the city’s largest back-to-school backpack drive.

So as Boston schoolkids start their new academic term, many of them will be “bringing along” a little bit of Corey, carrying his legacy on their backs.

Many of the students who attended last week’s “backpack” day were from Saint John Paul II Catholic Academy, one of the foundation’s main partners.

“When we started working with Saint John Paul, originally we started smaller and then we’ve just grown and grown and grown and this year we have 3,000 backpacks,” Cathleen shared. Each backpack included things like markers, crayons, and pens, notebooks and loose-leaf paper. 

Said Lisa Warshafsky, the academy’s Lower Mills principal, “The foundation supports several of our students under their Corey’s Kids Scholars Program. They support in lots of different ways in scholarship opportunities, but more through experiential philanthropy efforts.”

Saint John Paul Lower Mill’s principal, Lisa Warshafsky (left) about MAMLEO president Jeffrey Lopes (right): “Jeffrey is my counterpart in this. We’ve been doing it ten years together and opened it up city-wide five years ago.”

She added: “They have curated events and support three major programs, Saint John Paul’s, Boston Children’s Hospital, and the Ron Burton Training Village. Our students have multiple touchpoints with them throughout the year and one of our largest events together is the Corey C. Griffin and MAMLEO backpack event.”

After carefully choosing their bags, the students were encouraged to stick around the park, eat barbeque, have an ice cream, and play on the inflated slide. Some even shot hoops with former Boston Celtics player now TV analyst Brian Scalabrine. 

Nicknamed the “White Mamba,” Scalabrine seemed to be on the same page as Jeffrey Lopes, the president of MAMLEO, in noting, “I understand that, in my house, my kids write down everything they need, and mom goes on Amazon. They need a backpack; they get five and take the other four back. My kids live a life of privilege,” he said. “Sometimes opportunity doesn’t present itself if you don’t have the basics. I think promoting that education is important and giving kids the basic stuff could be a catapult to something great.”

Lopes called the Dot Park event a great way to kick off the school year in the neighborhood. “Not every young person has the access and opportunity to pick out a backpack,” he said. “Here we give them the opportunity. They get a ticket so they can get a backpack and then they go get food and ice cream and enjoy the activities.”

The children didn’t leave with just their bags and supplies.

“We did something special this year where each kid will receive a handwritten note that says we wish you a happy school year, you have greatness, you’re going to do great things,” said Chandra Clark, the foundation’s president.

Anton Melchionda, a friend of Scalabrine who serves on the CCGF board, said Scal “just got involved with the foundation within the last six months. Already, he has helped us raise a ton of money and gotten a lot of attention. He’s all in.

“This is one of many events we do through the course of the year and there are thousands of families and thousands of young kids whose lives have been changed forever in Corey’s memory, which is brilliant.”

Added Cathleen Griffin, “Look at how many people are here, it’s amazing. They’re all so excited and there is so much to offer. They can have food, they can have ice cream, so there’s something for everybody. It’s really nice for everyone just to come together.”