Children and Youth Fill Backpacks for Refugees
During the summer of 2003, the Montana Region used the DHM Kids to Kids' "Fill the Backpack" material to teach campers in each of its summer camps about refugees. From kindergarten through senior high, each camp collected money to be used for refugee children. By the end of the summer they had raised $382.46. These funds were sent to DHM's Refugee and Immigration Ministries program to buy school clothes, school supplies, and educational resources for a Church World Service after-school program for refugee children in Atlanta. Ron Greene, Chi Rho Camp Director, said, "the youth could identify with other youth who needed the essentials of life." Dan Dixson, who led the Junior Camp, said, "When it came time for the offering I talked about what it felt like to move to a new town or school and then let them imagine what it would be like to move to a new country that didn't speak their language and knowing that they had to leave nearly everything they owned behind." They agreed that knowing someone cared enough to give you simple things to get started in school would mean a lot. Also last summer, sixty kids from the Vacation Bible School (VBS) of Indian Lake Community Church in Russells Point, Ohio, used DHM's Kids to Kids' "Fill the Backpack" material to learn about refugees. One of the kids went home and told her mother she learned that God loved her and she was to share God's love with others. She also told her mother they were gathering items to fill backpacks for the refugee children who came to our country without any of their own things. By the end of VBS, the children had six boxes containing 24 backpacks filled with 160 pounds of new and used toys, games, clothing, books, and school supplies. It all went to Church World Service Immigration and Refugee Program office in Miami, Fla., for the Cuban and Haitian refugee kids who arrive in Miami by boat and plane.
Patty Luther, one of the leaders of the VBS, said: "The 'Fill the Backpack' project is a great idea. It involves all children of all ages and backgrounds. They were able to relate to the goal of helping other children; and all were able financially/physically to donate an item, whether new or used." In Arizona, the East Valley Chi Rho Group also used the "Fill the Backpack" material to learn about refugees. They held a bake sale to raise funds so they could purchase items to fill backpacks, and in each backpack they put a card of welcome and a photo of the Chi Rho members who filled the backpack. East Valley Chi Rho is made up of youth from Chalice Christian Church in Gilbert, First Christian Church and East Mesa Christian Church in Mesa, and Community Christian Church in Tempe.
The Rev. Jennifer Riggs, director of Refugee and Immigration Ministries, is a native of Winamac, Ind., and a member of Central Christian Church, Indianapolis.
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