MANATEE — With one stern glance, 16-year-old Vanessa Preservil, a Manatee High School senior-to-be, got her younger siblings to stand absolutely still for a family photo.

She also cooks for them and keeps their West Bradenton home clean and tidy when their mother, Marie Bazile, a pregnant single mom, is busy working one of her 16-hour days as a certified nursing assistant.

But what Vanessa couldn’t do was provide backpacks filled with school supplies for the upcoming school year, which begins in about two weeks.

Journey Church, in the 5000 block of 37th Street East near the YMCA on State Road 70, took care of that for Vanessa and her mom.

During its “Back to School Bash” on Sunday, the church gave away backpacks filled with pens, pencils, erasers, glue sticks, paper and notebooks to 200 children, said the Rev. Don Carter.

Roughly 500 attended the Bash on the church grounds, enjoying hot dogs, cotton candy and plenty of wet and slippery inflatable water slides while dodging intermittent rain drops.

There were also fun games, including a pie-eating contest won by 5-year-old Dalton Thompson.

Bazile’s children all received one of the solid leather backpacks, including Vanessa, her 15-year-old brother and her 13-year-old sister, Jessica, both of whom are going to Sugg Middle School.

Her 10-year-old brother, Jonathan, also got a backpack for starting the school year at Prine Elementary.

“This church really did a good deed for me,” said Bazile, who is due to deliver her baby in March.

Vanessa said there was no way the family could afford to buy the school supplies.

“This helps us so much,” she said.

Hearing the peals of laughter from the water sports and seeing the faces of the children getting their school supplies was all the reward church members needed for their donations for the backpacks, said church administrator Rhonda Page.

“It’s the laughter,” Page said. “I heard a couple of little kids who live in a home not as good as it could be having the time of their lives. They were smiling and happy. That’s all we wanted.”

The free Bash gave parents and children a way to enjoy a day together without having to buy a ticket.

“We’ve had a lot of fun,” said Tammy Gibson Kirby, whose daughter, Elizabeth Kirby, 10, was graceful on the waterslides.

The Kirbys came to church at Journey on Sunday, heard about the Bash and went home to put on “get wet” clothes.

Somehow, the church’s skilled hot dog girls, Gail Boehle and Susan Hagerman, were able to keep up with demand, as did Suzanne Johnson, who twirled the cotton candy in a machine.

Journey Church also reaches out to the homeless in Manatee County with a dinner 6 p.m. every Saturday at the Oneco Kiwanis Club, Page said.

Richard Dymond, Herald reporter, can be reached at 748-0411, ext. 6686.