COMPTON – World Vision International will help an estimated 3,000 financially embattled families – most from Carson, Compton and Long Beach – at a
back-to-school celebration today. The Washington-based nonprofit plans to provide children with backpacks, binders, paper, pens, pencils and everything else they will need to start the school year on the right foot. They initially expected 1,000 to 2,000 people, but since word of the event has spread they are preparing to feed and provide school supplies to around 3,000 families, said a World Vision spokeswoman. A bevy of local, state and national dignitaries are scheduled to appear the event, hosted by the Compton branch of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services. Scheduled to speak at the event is Carmen Taylor Jones, the mother of murder victim Breon Taylor, a 15-year-old Redondo Beach girl who was murdered last year when two gunmen opened fire on a group of hundreds of kids at a birthday party at the Lakewood Masonic Call, 5918 E. Parkcrest St., in Long Beach. Two teens were killed, Breon and her friend Dennis Moses, 17, of Long Beach. A third teen was hit by gunfire but survived. The alleged shooters, Izac McCloud, 17, and Jonzel Stringer, 21, have been charged with murder and a number of special circumstance allegations, including an allegation that the shooting was carried out to benefit their gang.
Both McCloud and Stringer – who