BY AMANDA ROGERS
[email protected]
[email protected]
Network also helps students in Kennedale
For the past five years, neighbors Kay Klenzendorf and Shai Mitchamore have been packing lunches for dozens of kids they don?t know and will never see. Now, it looks like they are going to get a helping hand. {{more}}
The ladies, along with a small group of volunteers, have been running the Weekend Backpack Ministry out of their homes and donated spaces, rounding up funds from sponsors or paying for the food themselves to give children in need a bag of food to get them through Saturday and Sunday.
Now, Common
Ground Network, an alliance of local churches and civic groups, could become the Weekend Backpack Ministry?s fairy godmother.
?It needs to happen,? said Phil Stover, co-chairperson for Common Ground?s Feed the Kids for Summer, which provides thousands of bags of food for children in need in the Mansfield school district over the summer break. ?We?re trying to figure out how we supplement what Kay and Shai are doing. They have been super. We are not trying to take away from anything they have done. I think we?ll all be able to work together as one.?
At the end of last year, the Weekend Backpack Ministry was providing bags for 265 students in the Mansfield school district at 19 schools, packing cereal, oatmeal, macaroni, crackers, fruit and ramen into shopping bags . So far this year, they are up to 220 — and expecting more. They know the need is greater than their output — which costs $350 per week — but they are limited on funding and volunteers.
That?s where Common Ground can help, said Brian McFadden, Common Ground president and compassion pastor at the Church on Rush Creek. ?The biggest thing we bring is a network of volunteers,? he said. ?We also have resources to care for so many. The need is so great.
The Church on Rush Creek also has a weekend food outreach, McFadden said, helping students at 15 schools including some in Mansfield, Kennedale and Grand Prairie. The church would focus on schools outside the Mansfield district and let Common Ground assist the Weekend Backpack Ministry, he said.
Common Ground would really like to help high school students in need, McFadden said. ?They are one of the hardest groups to help because there is pride involved,? he said.
Teens need more than just food, Stover pointed out. ?Hygiene items are badly needed, toothbrushes, toothpaste,? he said. ?We?re trying to set up an area where they can come get hygiene items or food items on the QT and put them in their backpacks.?
Right now, the groups are working with the Mansfield school district to determine the scope of the need. They know that almost 40 percent of the district?s 33,762 students are on free or reduced price lunch, and that Feed the Kids for Summer handed out approximately 10,000 bags this summer.
?Most people don?t realize there is a tremendous need in Mansfield,? Stover said. ?There are a lot of kids that don?t get to eat and don?t have the hygiene items they need.?
Klenzendorf says she and her partner are excited about growing their ministry. ?I think there are unlimited possibilities with Common Ground,? she said.
To donate, contact Shai Mitchamore at 817-229-5413 or Kay Klenzendorf at 817-253-8531. Donations can also be mailed to 1405 Waterwood Drive, Mansfield, Texas 76063.
Read more at Mansfield News-Mirror
Comments are closed.