Backpack Program

Many children in need receive nutritious, free lunches while at school but little at home. Through Communities in Schools (CIS) and Wiederstein Elementary, the people of Word of Life Fellowship and other partners provide backpacks full of healthy food which are given out on Fridays to assure that children and their families will not go hungry over the weekend. The children return the backpacks on Mondays to be filled by sponsors during the week. This is a great help to children and their families who are in physical need.

How Can I Make a Difference?

Sponsor a child. Volunteer to fill a backpack with nutritious food and snacks each week of the school year. Partner with us. You do not have to be a member of Word of Life to participate. A list of suggested food items and other details are available from Toby Molina at toby.molina@gmail.com.

How Can My Congregation, Business or Organization Make a Difference?

Start your own backpack program. Below is the process Word of Life Fellowship followed, leading us to the conclusion that we needed to start the backpack program (and a mentor program). Create your own process, follow ours or jump right in and contact Communities in Schools (CIS) to get started. Phone Chris Douglas, Executive Director of CIS, 830-620-4247. You can learn more about CIS at http://cissouthcentraltexas.org/

Our Process

What are people’s greatest needs? How can we focus our efforts in order to make a real and lasting difference in the lives of people in our community? Word of Life Fellowship has been asking these questions and more.

We discovered families with children are a fast growing segment of our population, especially in Cibolo. We determined education is a vital and lasting way to make a difference. Connecting with the school district seemed our best next step. We met with school district officials and asked what needs they had that trusted volunteers could help meet and how we could best impact the lives of children. These were obviously God-timed questions since the officials were beginning to ask similar questions. We were looking to help. They were looking for help! The school officials shared needs at Wiederstein Elementary in Cibolo near our property and connected us with Communities In Schools (CIS).

Chris, David & M’Lissa at CIS were so excited to meet with us and tell us about the children. They told us how Word of Life could significantly impact the lives of children who are “on the edge of success.” Lindsey at Wiederstein Elementary shared that there were several children who would benefit greatly from a volunteer mentor who would commit 30 minutes of time, once a week, just talking with a student. Another idea was to provide backpacks filled with healthy foods on Fridays so children wouldn’t go hungry over the weekend.