For our July Summer of Service, we donated supplies and backpacks and got them ready to help the North Central Convening of Churches with their Backpack and School Supply Drive. Over 950 backpacks were given away at Coker United Methodist on Wednesday, August 10th to children who were in need. In addition to the backpack and supplies, they vaccinated 100 people, had a mobile medical clinic and tables with information about services available.
If you weren’t able to hear Amy Aguinaga, Director of West Avenue Compassion, talk about their wonderful work when she visited St. George, please listen here.
It may not be common knowledge that St. George has sponsored a 4-H shooting sports team for the past 9 years – The Bexar County 4-H Shooting Sports team – which includes a large Archery team. Over the past year the archery team has secured multiple National titles – 7 first place, 7 second place and 6 third place finishes – and even more State Championships. In addition, Wilson Watson, Grandson to Roy and Pat Thompson, earned a place on the 2016 US Archery Field Team. He earned the bronze medal in the qualifications and then clenched his place on the team in a single arrow shootoff against the 4th place archer. He is one of only 3 Junior Barebow Archers representing Team USA in Dublin, Ireland at the September 2016 World Field Archery Championships. Wilson was introduced to archery through 4-H shooting sports and has been competing for the past 7 years. Wilson, his parents, his grandparents and the Bexar County 4-H shooting sports club thank St. George for supporting the shooting sports program and making this amazing achievement possible.
-Roy Thompson
West Avenue Compassion (WAC) is located very close to St. George Church at the First Church of the 
Nazarene on West Avenue near Lockhill Selma. They provide many services for local people in need including a food pantry, clothing pantry, nurse consultations, senior services, job/education center, a community garden and service referral center. This Sunday, Amy Aguinaga, Director of West Avenue Compassion will tell us about the wonderful work they do down the street from St. George. Click here to learn more about West Avenue Compassion.
It’s not too late to bring items for Sunday’s Summer of Service project.
- For August 7th, we are collecting items for their food pantry. Please use the “Most Wanted” list provided with this article.
- In addition, please start bringing new socks and underwear packages for August 14th. All sizes are needed to fit children to adults.
- If you would like to donate to the Summer of Service projects benefiting West Avenue Compassion, click here to be directed to our Paypal link.
Departure Day!
I have thought much about my (and the youths) trip to New Orleans and to sum it up in one word I would choose “charm.” This was my first trip to New Orleans and to be honest I did not know what to expect. And after being inspired by the people we encountered I must say the city does have a very, very unique charm.
During our time in the NO we worked at two different ministries; 1) Second Harvest and 2) United Saints. Second Harvest is a ministry that exists to provide food to local kids who are participating in camps around the New Orleans area. United Saints is a group of local churches that work in unison to support the needs of the New Orleans people. United Saints was founded August 27th, 2005, the day after Hurricane Katrina made landfall.
A few of the more meaningful moments of our trip happened after our last day of work painting a home on the West Bank. We left our worksite sweaty, tired, and feeling accomplished. Sarah (the other youth minister) and I decided to take the kiddos to the 9th Ward in New Orleans. The 9th Ward is the largest, poorest, and was the ward that was most heavily impacted by Katrina. We drove to the 9th Ward and you can still see some of the scars of the storm. We drove to a local Episcopal ministry center where the kids saw some “Second Harvest” food boxes laying on the ground which was neat! You could feel the kids being inspired that their hands fed some of the kids at this local Episcopal ministry center. We also drove through a subdivision in the 9th Ward where Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie donated millions of dollars helping renovate homes just off the levee breach. We also strolled through some of the neighborhoods where you can still visibly see the large spray painted “X” where the Urban Search and rescue teams notified emergency services when the house was searched, if there were victims, and when they left.
Upon leaving New Orleans, you could still feel it is a city that is in recovery. People still talk about how the city is still waiting for everyone to “come back.” I believe the city will come back and I might even argue it is already back. I asked one of our worksite leaders “what is the one thing that makes you never want to leave New Orleans?” He said “I never want to leave because I have never been to another city where people love their city as much as the people of New Orleans love theirs.” I would have to agree.
-Daniel Forman
As you know, for our July Summer of Service project, we are working with the North Central Convening of Churches to give backpacks stuffed with the required school supplies to local children who cannot afford them. If you’d like to participate in the other steps in the process of this project, please see below.
- On Monday, August 1, people will gather at Coker UMC to stuff all of the backpacks. This will take place from 5:00-9:00 PM. Click here for more information about this event.
- On Wednesday, August 10, the backpacks will be given to the children at Coker UMC. Volunteers for that need to be at Coker by 9:00 AM. Click here for more information about this event.
Please contact Julabeth Carden if you have any questions. You may email her by clicking here.
St. George will be hosting Happening on August 5-7. Happening staff will be here on July 30-31, preparing for the 100 or so teens that will live on our beautiful campus during the Happening. We need your help to host this great event.
How can you help?
- Please click here to help with donations to cover meal expenses for those in attendance.
- Contact Kendra Lopez if you or your small group would be willing to sponsor a meal or large snack for the group.
- Please offer your prayers for all involved with Happening.
If you know of a high school student in grade 10-12 who would like to attend Happening, contact Kendra Lopez.
Finally, if you’ve attended Happening before or if you have helped with the experience and would like to have a few words in the eSpear, please email me at lkelly@saintgeorgechurch.org or click here to type your responses into a quick and easy Google form. I’d love to have reflections both before the event and after the Happening here at St. George.
July Summer of Service: Backpack and School Supply Drive in Collaboration with The North Central Convening of Churches
Thanks to your generosity, we have been doing well with donations of the items on the list that was previously published. We’ve decided to move forward with the second half of the list of supplies for first and second grade backpacks. If you have already planned to bring items from the previous list, please do so. If you have not yet had a chance to do your shopping and can bring items from the following list, that would be great. We still need backpacks to be donated. As always, if you would rather donate money and have us do your shopping for you, we are happy to do so (click here for the link). Thank you!
- Backpacks – Suitable for first or second graders
We will stuff the donated back packs with supplies, so please bring one or more of the following items.
- 8 oz Elmer’s Glue
- Glue Sticks (6 required for 1st graders, 4 required for 2nd graders)
- Plastic Supply Box (9” X 6” X 2”)
- 12” Standard/Metric Ruler
- 12 ct. Colored Pencils
- 200 ct wide ruled Notebook paper (2 packages/backpack)
- Large pink eraser
- Box 200 ct. Non-Scented Kleenex (2 boxes/backpack)
You may drop your items off at the Leadership Center from 9-2 on Monday-Friday. You can also bring them by on Sunday.
Click here for information on our website about the North Central Convening of Churches and Larkspur Elementary.
Don’t have a chance to shop? Please consider offering a cash donation so we can pick up the needed items for you. Click here to make the donation via PayPal. You can also give cash or check in an envelope marked with ‘Summer of Service.’