Cody Strawser/Mount Vernon News
Greg Lawson is a volunteer for Backpacks of Hope. The food is stored in coordinator Bill Pursel’s basement and a group of volunteers like Lawson help with packing the food into bags. [request]
The program is ongoing in the 2019-20 school year. The students who are chosen to be helped by the program are recommended based on the feedback of principals, teachers and counselors who designate students to the program.
The meals that Lifepoint Church puts together in the basement of Pursel’s home (where the food is stored) are balanced and nutritious. The group even packs extra food when the students are home for long weekends or breaks.
“We put together a program to provide two breakfasts and two main meals, so in essence, it would cover their food for Saturday and Sunday,” said Pursel. “The meals contain vegetables, fruit and a snack. This is to help them over the weekend. On long or extended weekends we try to double up on food or put in more food. We have to be careful about the quantity because we are talking about Kindergarten through fifth-grade kids.”
The Backpacks of Hope group is not just merely providing a necessary food service to the youth of the community. The group is also attempting to spread the message of Jesus Christ through the example of selflessness that the group sets within the community.
“We aren’t just a food service, we care about these children,” said Pursel. “We believe that Jesus calls us to reach out to our neighbors and to disciple them whenever possible. As we are reaching out as members of Lifepoint Church, we are doing it because of our faith-commitment to Christ. Christ calls us to reach out into our community and to save the lost. We want to be able to actually connect with the families and help them not just with their food, but also with their life in general.”
Pursel has plans for expanding the Backpacks of Hope program to include schools other than the three elementary schools that they currently provide the bags of food to: Columbia, Dan Emmett and East elementary schools.
“My vision for this outreach would be to include all of the schools in Knox County, including the junior high and high schools,” said Pursel. “We need more funding sources to be able to expand. The number of grants that I can secure before a school year starts is the number of kids that we can feed. We don’t want to get to the place where we start out feeding a hundred kids and then have to cut back to 80 kids due to a lack of funds.”
As of Feb. 28, the Backpacks for Hope group has provided 1,861 bags of food to children in need, which is about 7,444 meals according to the group’s estimates. This year, in terms of funding, the group needed approximately $15,300 and were able to meet it through local sponsors. The group needs more sponsors to expand. Anyone can volunteer to help the group pack and transport the bags to the elementary schools. The group relies on its church members and other members of the community that includes college students to help with the packing and transportation of the bags.
