school_supplies_81103

Posted: 8/8/03

Deja Richardson, a kindergarten student at J.L. Everhart Primary School in Longview, receives a free eye exam from a Heaton Eye Associate volunteer at the Back-To-School Carnival Aug. 3. At right: Nine-year-old Kabreuntray Jackson was one of three children in the Jackson family to receive school supplies from the School Supply Train.

School Supply Train greeted eagerly in Longview

By Amy Seale

Buckner News Service

LONGVIEW–In the corner of a dimly lit hallway, separated from the crowd, two girls sat beneath the light of an open window. Before them, a colorfully illustrated book lay open, detailing the life of Christ and his gift of salvation. For one of the teens, it was the perfect opportunity to talk about Christ with her young friend–an opportunity that began with a truckload of school supplies and a gym full of backpacks.

Buckner Children & Family Services of Northeast Texas, the Junior League of Longview and First Baptist Church of Longview partnered to meet the physical needs of school children in the Longview community. In addition, more than 200 volunteers sought to meet spiritual needs as well.

What began more than a decade ago as a simple community service project to collect school supplies has exploded into a three-day event, the School Supply Train, to distribute backpacks and school supplies to hundreds of children.

A student from Kilgore College of Cosmetology gives a free haircut at the event, held at First Baptist Church of Longview.

“It has truly been an affirmation of who God is,” said Jane Ann Crowson, Buckner gift planning and stewardship officer for Northeast Texas. “If you lift him up, he will draw people.”

As the distribution weekend concluded Aug. 3 with a Sunday Back-to-School Carnival, more than 1,500 parents and children crowded the halls of First Baptist Church's recreation center to participate in the festivities. Children anxiously waited in line to receive balloon hats and have large crosses painted on their faces. They carried newly distributed Bibles and wore their new backpacks as they waited to receive vision screenings, immunizations and free haircuts.

“You have to be able to meet the physical needs first,” said Tim Watson, pastor of First Baptist Church. “We are not only seeing people share Christ with their mouth but also sharing Christ with their hands by doing whatever it is we've asked them to do, whether it is cutting hair or giving out backpacks or giving eye exams. We are not just doing social work or social ministry but evangelism.”

With no plan and no budget set aside for the School Supply Train carnival, things just fell into place, said Julee Rachels, recreation and activities director at First Baptist.

“God has been incredibly faithful through the whole project,” added Crowson. “It was strictly a God project.”

Volunteers from Heaton Eye Associates provided free vision screenings for the children, and students from Kilgore College of Cosmetology volunteered their time to cut hair.

“Even people who are coming to help don't know Christ, and we have the opportunity to share Christ with them too,” Rachels said.

Tracy Moore, a member of First Baptist and a student at Kilgore College of Cosmetology, fought back tears as she cut hair beside many of her classmates.

“Initially, I felt it was God wanting us to minister to the kids,” she explained, “but then God was revealing to me that this was for my fellow students.”

For some, it was their first time to be in a church, their first time to see the love of Christ given freely. For others, it was an opportunity to share a gift they only recently received themselves.

Theresa Perez and her husband professed faith in Christ only six weeks ago, but for three days she faithfully volunteered at the School Supply Train. She also visited with neighbors and shared her new faith in Christ with others.

Throughout the three-day event, more than 2,700 children in the community received new backpacks and school supplies.

As a school teacher at Pine Tree Elementary, Meredith Clay, Junior League volunteer and chairman of the School Supply Train, has seen first-hand the effects the school supplies have on these children. “I saw last year those kids that came in with those supplies and how proud they were. It really does make a difference.”

Kimberly Jackson, a mother of five, said receiving the backpacks and school supplies was a tremendous blessing. The family had lost everything they owned in a house fire only days before.