Delivering help and hope in a backpack

LOUISVILLE — Handwritten on bright orange construction paper, the first grader’s simple message was surrounded by smiling stick figures, hearts and flowers.

“I am thankful for my food,” she wrote to the friends she has never met at Chester (Virginia) Presbyterian Church.

Image

For the past 12 years, the suburban Richmond congregation in the Presbytery of the James has partnered with Marguerite Christian Elementary School in Chesterfield County to provide backpacks of food for children — like the budding artist from Miss Nyquist’s first grade class — to take home over the weekend.

“Even though you wouldn’t think there’s poverty here because we’re pretty middle class, you’ll find a lot of low-income residents,” said Jane Ward, who joined the congregation in 1986 when Ward’s family moved to Chester. “And because many immigrants in our community make minimum wage working in restaurants or food service, their families need the backpacks of food to get them through the weekend.”

Ward, a retired high school marketing teacher who coordinates the congregation’s “Backpack Buddies” program, said that not only have times changed since she was teaching, but the needs have also grown more critical.

And the students are even more vocal.

“When I taught high school,” she said, “the kids would never say, ‘I’m hungry,’ or ‘I didn’t get lunch,’ but little elementary kids now would definitely say that.”

Ward’s small team of 10 volunteers from the Chester Church — which she said is “struggling like many congregations today” with mostly older members and few children — takes turns shopping for, packing and delivering the backpacks to the school on Friday mornings. A display with a plastic tub is also available in the narthex for church members to make monetary or food donations.

“When the school asked us this year if we could increase the number of backpacks we provide, since I knew we couldn’t manage it, thankfully another church stepped up,” said Ward. “If it wasn’t for us, there would be some little kids hungry on the weekends. I wish I could feed them all.”

Confronting hopelessness through acts of compassion is just what the Peace & Global Witness Offering has sought to achieve for more than 40 years. The annual Offering enables congregations like the Chester Church to promote the Peace of Christ by addressing systems of injustice in their community and across the world.

Peace & Global Witness, which is highlighted during the Season of Peace, Sept. 7–Oct. 5, is traditionally received on World Communion Sunday, which falls this year on Oct. 5. The Offering is unique in that half of the gifts received are directed to efforts at the national church level for peacemaking and global witness work around the world, while 25% is retained by congregations for local peace and reconciliation work, and 25% goes to presbyteries for similar ministries at the regional level.

“The Chester Church’s ‘Backpack Buddies’ program exemplifies the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s longstanding commitment to peacemaking,” said the Rev. Wilson Kennedy, the PC(USA)’s associate director for Special Offerings and Appeals. “Feeding the hungry who are living in oppressive systems of poverty helps us to pursue what makes for peace.”

Because Ward knows that poverty is one of the greatest threats to the healthy development of children, she and the church remain committed to “Backpack Buddies” despite the challenges. The congregation also provides a drive-through café that meets the needs of 90 to 105 residents weekly with a complete, hot meal on Thursdays.

“When children don’t eat, they can’t learn,” she said. “As long as we’re able to continue this program, we’re going to do it.”

Image

In addition to the weekly food bags, the church also prepares and delivers snacks and treats for the students for special occasions like Christmas and Easter.

“The counselor told us that she usually offers the children a treat when they come to her office but that her budget had been spent,” Ward said. “When she asked us if we could do anything, I told her we’d take care of it. My husband, Ray, who also volunteers, delivered enough snacks to last through the rest of the school year.”

Ward said that because the school is so appreciative, the church often gets thank-you notes directly from the children.

And although Ward is not a “keeper,” she did hold onto a few of the cards — like the one on orange construction paper.

“Through programs like ‘Backpack Buddies’ and the Peace & Global Witness Offering, churches can continue to address food poverty in their communities,” she said. “In our congregation and across the PC(USA), many hands make light work.”