The “Giving Back” Pack

A group of us “packed” together to serve with Bay Area Rescue Mission (BARM) for their annual “Back-to-school Backpack Giveaway.” BARM generously distributes backpacks to students in the West Contra Costa Unified School District.

Here’s additional sharing from one of our member volunteers:

We helped to assemble brightly colored backpacks full of school supplies like notebooks, pencils, markers, and hand sanitizers. Additionally, we helped organize some "Christmas in August" gift bags for the children, as BARM could not distribute gifts during the past Christmas due to the pandemic. Everyone worked enthusiastically, and we finished ahead of schedule! All in all, BARM prepared around 3000 backpacks to distribute to needy families.

We were motivated to think about how the children would feel to receive these backpacks full of brand new school supplies and feel a bit of love and encouragement for their learning. Efforts like this have taken place year after year throughout the country to help people, but it still takes volunteers willing to give up a little bit of their time to lend a hand. As the volunteers were arranged in "assembly lines," putting each item into the backpacks, it reminded us of the need and impact of people working together out of love. This culture of volunteerism (and even corporate donations) is a legacy of Chrisitan charity that believers have shown throughout the generations. It felt right and good for us to participate in this together.

—James C.