Parents are getting some help in getting their kids back to school in parts of Carbon and Schuylkill counties with free haircuts and school supplies.

Parents in the Panther Valley School District can pick up certificates at the elementary school for free haircuts.

Barber Leighton Brown will be honoring the certificates from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 23 at his shop at 28 W. Ridge St. in Lansford, near Valley Athletics.

The certificates are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The district is also helping out with school supplies for those in need. The supplies are available from 9 a.m. to noon Monday to Friday, said Nicole Pollinger, community school coordinator.

Tamaqua area

Those in the Tamaqua area and portions of Schuylkill County served by the Salvation Army in Tamaqua will also be getting help with free haircuts and backpacks, said Jael Houser, officer and case manager.

Justine Evans, owner of Justine Evans Lifestyles Salon at 250 E. Broad St., will be opening her salon for Tamaqua Area School District students who signed up through the Salvation Army.

She will be working with stylist Melissa Bush on providing 45 haircuts for those who signed up.

The Salvation Army is providing 350 backpacks to preregistered students in need, Houser said. Two hundred of those are just for students in the Tamaqua area, and the United Way provided 100 of those bags, she said.

Tamaqua Area students will be picking up backpacks on Aug. 19. Students from other areas in Schuylkill County and the Salvation Army coverage area including New Ringgold, Lansford, Coaldale, New Philadelphia, Middleport, Mahanoy Area and Shenandoah will pick up bags on Aug. 16, Houser said.