Today is the last day to Flaunt Your Cause with Lindsay and Emmy June and I felt this was an awesome opportunity to share a big part of my heart with you all!
(One person who links up even gets $50 towards their charity!)
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At the beginning of the last school year, I helped start Blessings in a Backpack in my home town. We partnered with a neighboring city and it has quickly spread over our county.
In Albertville, AL alone, there are 1100 kids (grade 1-4) in the free/reduced lunch program. Many of those children have little to no food from the time they leave school on Friday until they return Monday morning.
It all started for us with this story:
My friend, who is a teacher at the local elementary school told me about a student in her class that came in very excited one Monday morning.
student: "Mrs. W! You'll never guess what I ate this weekend! *excitement overload*"
teacher: "What was it??"
student: "I had PIZZA ROLLS for the first time and I LOVED them!"
teacher: "That's awesome! What else did you eat this weekend?"
student looks puzzled..."nothing. That's it."
Unfortunately, we learned that this special weekend of one meal of Pizza Rolls is a treat for many of the kids here in our own community.
Enter: Blessings in a Backpack. It is a national corporation whose goal is to feed kids on the weekends. For just $80, you can feed a kid every weekend for the entire school year!
For less that $2 a week, a child no longer goes hungry.
It's sad that we have kids who's parents can't or don't feed them. The reasons don't matter. Maybe the parents are working all weekend trying to keep the bills paid. Maybe they are spending their money on drugs. Whatever the reason, these kids are hungry. And they aren't at fault.
I recently heard a story that one of our local DHR workers went into a home that had five children, two of which were in our program, and the only food in the entire house was the food from Blessings in a Backpack.
Every Thursday, we gather together at the school to pack 150 bags of food for these hungry kids in my city alone and expect to do exceedingly more next year. Local grocers partner with us, selling their products to us at cost. And many volunteers do the leg work to pick up the food, deliver it to the packing location, help pack the bags, pray over the kids who will receive them, and take them to the classrooms.
In the beginning, we were very careful to make sure no kid was pointed out for being in the program. Our teachers would secretly put the bags of food in the kids backpacks while the students were out. But as the year went on, we realized that the majority of the students in the program looked forward to getting their food every Friday and would even show their classmates what they got that week. In fact, I've even had several parents approach me saying that their children were in the program and thanking us because it helped them so much.
Here are some letters from students in the program around the country (get ready to have your heart melt!)
Right now we are in the middle of a race series to raise funds for the next school year. The more we raise, the more kids we can help -- and there are many more students that could benefit from being in the program. If you would like to sponsor a kid for the 2012-2013 school year, you can! Every penny helps and EVERY penny goes directly to the kids! Email me at
{thewilliamspost@gmail.com}
And guess what, YOU can start this program in your city as well! Just visit HERE to find out how! I'd love to help you get started and answer any questions you may have.
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I know that it's not Tuesday, but since yesterday was my hubby's bday, I am doing the Life on a Mission linkup today instead! Feel free to link up and share how you are living you life for God, or what God is teaching you or showing you! Let's share with and encourage one another!
{thewilliamspost@gmail.com}
And guess what, YOU can start this program in your city as well! Just visit HERE to find out how! I'd love to help you get started and answer any questions you may have.
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I know that it's not Tuesday, but since yesterday was my hubby's bday, I am doing the Life on a Mission linkup today instead! Feel free to link up and share how you are living you life for God, or what God is teaching you or showing you! Let's share with and encourage one another!
6 comments:
HOW GREAT!! :)
x.
You and your husband are so inspiring. As I was looking through your different mission trips, it made me want to get involved as well. So thank you!
Kerrie,
WOW! I'm so glad you joined the link-up. The story about the kid ONLY eating pizza rolls, really makes you realize how much need is out there. You are amazing for taking the initiative to do something about it. I'm sure it's a big commitment to go every Thursday and pack those bags--so thank you for doing it! What an amazing way to give back to your community.
I'm so glad I got to learn more about this nationwide cause :)
Cheers,
Emily
You are such an inspiration, Kerrie! I love this. Isn't it sad that there are so many kids who go without a basic need like food? I'm so glad there are people like you who are willing to put the time and effort into changing this world for the better and providing for those who are less fortunate. THANK YOU for what you do!
You are wonderful!
Thank you for linking up with Emily and me for Flaunt Your Cause!
Thank you so much for this beautiful article and for everything you do for Blessings in a Backpack. We are truly blessed to have people like you involved in our mission.
Nikki Grizzle
Blessings in a Backpack
There are three types of school bags on the market these days; toddler, mid-size and full-sized. Choose the correct one for your purposes. Ask yourself if your child will use the bag to carry books, clothing, beach towels for camp, or simply smaller things to go to daycare.
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