HILLSBORO, Kan. (KSNW) – The group at Parkview Mennonite Brethren Church has been doing some heavy lifting.
“We just got to talking about what a cool thing it would be to try and do this,” says Tami Driggers, church member.
Lifting the boxes is the easy part but filling them would take a little work.
“We thought, let’s just present it to the elders of our church and see what they think,” Driggers explains.
“I think within 15 minutes of it being presented, somebody said lets just do it,” Pastor Tom Byford adds.
What Driggers and her bargain hunting partners were asking for were school supplies for every child at Hillsboro Elementary School. An idea she got after seeing a church in Emporia do the same thing for its school district.
“We were planning for about 300 kids, and I think we got it done for around $22 to $23 a kid,” Driggers says.
The final tab would add up to more than $7,000. It is money Byford says the church had thanks to its congregation and you can could say divine planning.
“It is easy look back on all the ways that God worked that out for us,” Byford explains.
It is a blessing in the eyes of Rachel Winter who has worked at the school for 40 years and is a Title I teacher.
“It has been awhile since I did school shopping, and I was surprised at how much it added up,” Winter says. “Our hope is that it will help take off a burden and they (parents) will be relaxed about getting their kids ready for school.”
The group at Parkview Mennonite Brethern Church can not wait for the first school bell this year.
“I feel like God just provided,” Driggers says.
The church is now planning a packing party. They plan to make sure each kid has every supply they need two days before school starts when they meet their teachers.
