Wednesday, June 19, 2013

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Church Gives Away 600 Backpacks
Posted: 08.17.2012 at 8:17 AM
Victoria Marshall

Victoria is the Action 4 News morning meteorologist.

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As parents gear up to send their children back to school, they will be shopping for school supplies.

But for some, the means to purchase these items for their children are hard to come by.

Libby Ordeman is a member of the International Christian Center and heads up "Brownsville Love".

It's an extension of the church that helps provide extras for under privileged children.

Ordeman explains, "There's about 50 people that help with the projects, and so we solicit the congregation and then the offerings come through."

Those offerings are being extended to parents in the Brownsville community who can't provide their children with school supplies.

"We understood there were two needy schools in Brownsville, particularly where the household income was the lowest, so we picked one of them and decided to buy across the board for every student in that school," said Ordeman.

ICC member Loida Gonzalez is part of “Brownsville Love “and also a teacher.

She says those 600 backpacks will fill a great void... a need for help she sees on a daily basis.

"I have experienced that parents they come and bring part of the material and they tell me they have to wait one week or two more weeks to bring the rest,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez says not having the tools to work can set the students back tremendously.

So while many head back to school shopping this weekend, for these children, those basic necessities will come in the form of generosity from strangers.

"They're always so pleased to get a brand new backpack and then open it up and find most of their school supplies in there," Ordeman said.

The backpacks will be given away this Saturday at an event hosted by ICC where they will also get to decorate them.

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