Two weeks after a fire destroyed his home, the owner of a local trucking company was giving back to the community that gave him his start.
Charvo Lampton, owner of the Lampton Trucking Company, spent Saturday with family and friends at the Hendricks Street Apartments passing out school supplies.
“I grew up in apartment E, building 104,” Lampton said as he pointed to one of the buildings. “We were raised here and this is one of the low-end income apartments that there is in Columbia. We were raised here and I wanted these kids to know that through school and ambition, they can be whoever they want to be.”
Lampton, a Columbia High School graduate who went on to study at Pearl River Community College and Grambling State University, said he hoped to convey a message of hope to the children on Hendricks Street.
“It’s uplifting to give the kids a new book sack and a new start,” he said. “It was strictly from my company. There were no donations or anything like that. We paid and purchased everything and came and gave them away.”
Lampton said that despite the fire at his home, he knew he wanted to continue with the giveaway.
“We lost everything on Monday, June 10,” he said. “We lost our complete house. I backed out on this at first and said, ‘Man, we need everything we can get for ourselves.’ But God kept telling me to go do the right thing. It was laid on my heart to do this.”
Lampton had family and friends by his side as the children gathered around to receive the book bags filled with school supplies.
“I have my wife, Imani Naeem, my sister, Channing Lampton, Shun Lee, Ezarion Coleman and other family and friends out here,” he said. “We had about 50 book sacks full of supplies. They have pencils, notebooks, all of the basics. We made sure they had the basics.”
Children and parents gathered around the two trucks from Lampton Trucking in the parking lot and received their supplies. Parents and children alike thanked Lampton and his family and friends.
“I got a lot of hugs and even had one of them take a selfie with me,” he concluded. “A lot of these kids know me because I coach youth football with them. It was really great to be able to do this.”
Pictured Above: Charvo Lampton hands out backpacks full of school supplies last Saturday at the Hendricks Street Apartments. | Photo by Mark Rogers
