JESUS: And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me." Matthew 25:45 (NLT)
Jesus had a heart for the poor and he had a special place in his heart for children. We have an opportunity to share the heart of Jesus with a group of children.
Back to School Supply Drive: August 9 - 23
Gateway has taken the challenge to adopt a local elementary school in West Columbia and to provide school supplies for the children. We want to encourage these students by helping them to start the school year off right. There are 320 students in the school whose families do not have the resources to purchase school supplies for many of them it is a decision between buying food or school supplies.
George I Pair Elementary School is designated as an at-risk school due to the number of children who live at or below the poverty level. Ninety-two percent of children at this school are on free or reduced lunch. This means that 92 percent of the children in this school are from a family where buying school supplies is nearly impossible. Many of the children live in single-parent homes.
This is where you come in. This Sunday you can adopt a child by stopping by the Back to School Supply Drive table located at the worship center entrance. Pick up one school supply card for each child you wish to sponsor. Purchase a back-pack and fill it with the supplies. The average cost is $20 to complete the need for one child. Return the completed back-pack to Gateway on or before August 23rd. We will deliver the supplies on Monday the 24th.
Mary found a deal at Walgreen – $10 for 2 back-packs. So we are adopting 2 children for only $30!
This past Sunday 140 children were adopted for school supplies. We have 180 more children who need to be adopted.
We have a great opportunity to communicate to the children and their families in a very small but practical way that Jesus loves them and that we want them to have a great school year. If we go over our goal, we have a second school who has requested assistance.
Their only suggestion was that we keep on helping the poor, which I have always been eager to do. Galatians 2:10 (NLT)
