Backpacking to Pontiac

Two weeks ago, we made an announcement in church that we would like to fill backpacks to take to the kids at Grace Centers of Hope. I put tags on a board with the kid's names and ages, and people could select a tag and go shopping. There are only 25 kids there right now, so the tags I put on the board went at the speed of light. It was encouraging.

The deadline to return the full backpacks was yesterday. Tonight, I went to church to collect the backpacks, to check that we had one for each child, and make sure everything on the list was inside each backpack.

It was overwhelming. In the best possible way. Just looking through those backpacks touched me very much. I could tell that people took time to plan and shop, and thought about the kids when they were assembling. The results of every one was amazing. Some of those backpacks are really stuffed. I gave a dollar limit, so that means people did some good bargain shopping.

Some wrote notes to their kids. Some put in extra special touches like hair clips, lip gloss, stickers, and gum. The backpacks matched the folders that matched the pencils. The backpacks are a kid's back to school dream. In a place and economy where people are very conscious of jobs and money, these 25 volunteers really came through, above and beyond the agreed upon project. It did my heart a world of good to know that the people in my congregation are willing to live what they believe And 25 kids, who live in a mission and have very little they can call their own, are going back to school with everything they need.

God is an amazing God. I can hardly wait to deliver the backpacks to the kids!

Normal Girl