By: Serena Stauffer, Summer 2015 Development and Communications intern
During a recent mid-June afternoon in the basement of Derry Presbyterian Church, backpacks are the center of attention. Blue backpacks, pink backpacks covered in tiny owls, purple backpacks, and rainbow backpacks with matching pencil holders are waiting on a table to make their big debut.
Anticipation is high as Congregational Resource Developer Christine Baer shares a brief presentation on refugees, including where they come from and why they left. As the presentation ends, members of the congregation pile crayons, notebooks, and pencils on the tables and decide that an assembly line is the most efficient way to fill each backpack with school supplies.
The backpacks are known at CWS Lancaster as "school kits" or "welcome kits" and feature items such as pens, pencils, erasers, pencil sharpeners, rulers, and construction paper. A backpack's journey begins with donations like these. Some groups, such as Derry Presbyterian Church, collect all of the necessary items and then opt to assemble the backpacks (kits) themselves.
Once the backpacks are filled, they are stored at the CWS office on East King Street, and all backpacks and welcome kits are given out in the local community. The backpacks find their way into the hands of refugee children who have arrived in Lancaster with their parents, all of whom are in search of a better life.
Derry Presbyterian participated in the welcome kit event as part of their church's mission week, an event that focuses on a variety of outreach ministries, mainly in the surrounding communities. Karen Leader, a member of the congregation reached out to CWS to find out how her church could get more involved.
"Our Mission and Peace Committee has been supporting Church World Service monetarily, and this year we decided to find some sort of mission work we could do with them," Leader said. "So, Christine showed us several kits that can be put together by individuals and donated to the refugees by CWS." The church, she explained, "decided to get involved because we wanted to do more than just donate money to such a great cause."
"I think everyone involved from ages four to eighty-four were so happy to put together these school kits as everyone can relate to how good one feels when you've picked out your new school supplies and are off to your first day of school," Leader added. "We are planning to continue some projects with Christine as soon as possible!"
As the piles of donated supplies dwindle, and the backpacks grow a few pounds heavier, the group at Derry Presbyterian Church moves on to a new project, equally as meaningful as the first; crafting cards that will be paired with the welcome kits. Baer explains that the cards are placed on dining room tables or on beds. "The cards are one of the first contacts that refugees have with the community of Lancaster."
At the conclusion of the afternoon, the congregation had filled forty-six backpacks and created forty welcome cards. Leader summed up the experience by saying, "It was so meaningful to see such a cross section of our church members working so enthusiastically for this cause… After hearing the refugees' stories, you can't help but feel how important the work is that CWS is doing!"
