PINS SCHOOL BACKPACK PROJECT 2025

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Partners in Service committee (PINS) is a part of the Outreach committee of  St. Luke’s Church.  Every summer for many years the congregation has put together backpacks filled with school items for kids in foster care or of families in crisis.  The backpacks are delivered to the Department of Child and Family Services (DCF) at the Springfield office in the care of our liaison, Cathy Paul.  She and the case workers will distribute them to the kids in August.  Cathy Paul was contacted earlier and is delighted that St. Luke’s Church will once again continue  this donation.

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Due to the instability of the global market and the possibility of increased tariffs with China, all the school items have been purchased.  The backpacks are donated and it is expected we will once again be able to give 80 backpacks to DCF.  They are assembled by grades K-3, 4-6, 7-9 and 10-12,  They will be filled with appropriate items depending by grade.  The items are: pencils, pens, erasers, highlighters, crayons, colored pencils, glue sticks, scissors, sharpeners, rulers, sticky notes, pencil case, 8x11” spiral notebook, folders with pockets, hand sanitizers, calculators, 3-ring binders with paper, thumb drives and compass/protractor sets.

  

To accomplish this the PINS committee comprised of: Marge Carey, Sally Hoover, Lillian Willis, Eileen Widger and Marcia Clinton is in need of your assistance.  Last year the cost to fill each backpack came to around $7.50.  This year the cost is about a dollar more at around $8.50.  The PINS committee requests that you donate to this cause by dropping a donation with a note to PINS in the collection plate at the Sunday service or mail a check to St. Luke’s treasurer with the word PINS written on the memo line.

 

Each backpack will have a tag with the grade and the other side of the tag says: “Filled with love for you from St. Luke’s Church Chester, Vermont”.  Even though we don’t see the kids who receive the stuffed backpacks you have to believe they are thrilled.  Because these are kids who rarely receive anything brand new just for them.

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Partners in Service is a vehicle for putting faith in action, as PINS projects can involve the entire congregation in reaching out to vulnerable children in their communities.  The beauty of PINS lies in its ability to convey a message of love, empathy and caring to children who are experiencing feelings of loss, fear, isolation and grief.  A child’s realization that someone in their community cares for them makes an enormous difference to individual well-being.