Making a Difference - It’s Elementary
The next time you go grocery shopping, how about adding a few items to your cart to donate to our partnership school? For over 15 years, Bridgeport has been helping out students and families at Whitman Elementary School located at SE 73rd and Flavel.
It is a school with a high percentage of low-income families and families experiencing food scarcity. The community is racially diverse and has many immigrant families whose children attend the school.
Many years ago, a member of Bridgeport, Jill Macy asked us to help out with school supplies for the children in her class. Over the years, this partnership grew and now we bring food monthly to contribute to the backpack program. A backpack program is a way for schools to help students have food on the weekends, especially for families who rely on the free breakfast and lunch programs offered at schools.
In many situations, students stop in to the “community schools” office in the building and pick up a backpack filled with healthy kid-friendly food. Often the food items are easy to cook and older children can prepare food for themselves when needed, for example when parents are working late hours.
The Justice and Witness team coordinates this program and invites you to bring your food items on the first Sunday of each month* – the same Sunday we share communion. Please see below for a shopping list to give ideas for the types of food items Whitman Elementary School is requesting.
We appreciate one of our members, Dave Townley, who has been a consistent volunteer for years loading up his truck with our donations and taking them to Whitman. If you would like to help Dave one month and see where our donations go, please reach out to someone on the team and we will connect you!
We will continue our relationship with Whitman and will let you know as special needs arise throughout the school year. Thank you! Justice and Witness Team.
If you’d like to make a monetary donation to the Whitman Backpack Program, please click the donation button below and add a note stating it is for this program.
*Since the first Sunday in January is January 1, 2023, which is a Labyrinth Sunday, we are postponing our food donations for Whitman School to the second Sunday for January only.