St. John the Baptist, Newburgh, Backpack Program – 2024 Grant Recipient
Backpacks come in all shapes and sizes; from worn and serviceable to new and sparkly; from solid colors to covered in cartoon characters. With the help of a grant from the Catholic Foundation of Southwestern Indiana, this school year, on Friday afternoons, more than 200 hundred backpacks, in several Warrick County Schools, will be filled with healthy food for a child for the weekend.
Four years ago, a parishioner of St. John the Baptist Catholic Parish in Newburgh, Indiana felt in her heart that she was being called to feed children. She saw a need and together with Mary Grady, Community Outreach Coordinator for St. John, they developed a plan that has grown into the Backpack Ministry of the parish. It started as and continues to be a grass roots effort by this faith community to be the hands and feet of Christ for the children among them.
Summer Wright, the current Community Outreach Coordinator for St. John, now coordinates and oversees the program. She works with resource staff from Chandler, Newburgh, Sharon, Yankeetown and St John the Baptist schools to identify the children. Summer then coordinates with 20 to 30 volunteers both from the parish and the larger community to fill the backpacks and distribute them each week. Erin Purdue, one of the volunteers said, “The SJB backpack program offers the children in our community a nutritional routine that provides comfort in their lives. Comfort and nutrition are so important in a child’s quest for learning on a daily basis. It is a program that is near and dear to my heart as I spent over a decade chatting with students as they ate breakfast in the school cafeteria before beginning their day. As a former educator, I appreciate so much that SJB can offer this program to students in our community.” Several times a year the kids find a note along with the food letting them know that the people of the parish are thinking about them and inviting them and their family to visit St. John.
Just like the backpacks, the children come in all shapes and sizes, and they are hungry. The people of St. John are feeding them. “For I was hungry and you gave me food” (Mt 25:35)
In addition to the grant, the program relies on contributions from parishioners, other charities, their sponsor-a-child program and private contributions. If you would like to help them expand their effort, to feed more children, contact Summer at the parish at [email protected] or by phone at 812-490-1000.