Area students are invited to a back-to-school picnic at Murphree Park Saturday. All who attend will be given school supplies in honor of the late Annie L. McNabb.

“She was a teacher and worked with kids her whole life, for 50 or 60 years,” said Tonya McNabb, Annie’s granddaughter.

Together with aunts, uncles, a family friend and cousins who are flying in from as far away as California for the event, Tonya McNabb will ensure as many as 75 students who come to Murphree Park will leave with a few supplies they need. The picnic and school supply giveaway is free to students of all ages.

“Children 12 and under just need to have an adult with them,” said Tonya McNabb. “It was crazy last year. We had a really big turnout.”

Tonya McNabb’s mother was the oldest of Annie McNabb’s 10 children. “And she helped raise so many other kids in the community.”

David McNabb, one of Annie McNabb’s six living children, said his mother taught at Stringer High School, which is now Goshen High School.

“My mother always spoke of getting an education and religion,” he said.

She managed to put six of her 10 children through college.

“We just want to do something positive in her memory,” added David McNabb.

Saturday’s event will last from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Free items will include paper, notebooks, pencils and crayons.

“I think she would’ve been so pleased,” said Annie’s daughter, Vachon McNabb Watts.

She looked forward to returning from Rainbow City to the community where she and her siblings grew up.

“It’s just paying it forward,” said McNabb Watts. “To whom much is given, much is required.”