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By Joye F. Jones, Pastor

Good Shepherd UMC, Silver Spring

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NOTE: At the 2013 session of the Baltimore-Washington Conference, Bishop Marcus Matthews called upon every church to adopt a school in their ZIP code. Many churches this September are providing backpacks for needy area school children. Good Shepherd UMC is forging a deeper relationship. For more information on school partnerships, visit www.bwcumc.org.

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Broad Acres Elementary School is less than a mile from Good Shepherd UMC in Silver Spring yet worlds away in many respects.

Children who attend Broad Acres are among the poorest in affluent Montgomery County. The children come from all over the world, representing 31 countries and speaking 28 languages. More than 90 percent are eligible for free or subsidized meals. In 2000, the school was one of the poorest performing on standard exams, and was threatened with state takeover. It has subsequently undergone a miraculous transformation, and today, at Broad Acres, playing chess is cool!

Good Shepherd’s relationship with Broad Acres began as so many church missions do: a member of the congregation became aware of a need and shared it with our missions team.

In 2007, Carol Penne learned about Broad Acres parents who could not afford to give gifts to their children for Christmas. Working through Linkages-to-Learning, a Montgomery County organization that helps children and families in need, Penne identified three “Advent families,” and the ministry was underway.

Members of the congregation provide gifts for every child in the family, as well as a gift for each parent. On a Sunday near Christmas, we gather after worship to wrap presents, stuff stockings and organize the gifts. These are delivered to the homes by members of the congregation during the week before Christmas. We are overwhelmed by the joy in the faces of the parents. We are now up to seven families.

In 2009, our ministry with Broad Acres really took off.

That year, we began collecting backpacks and school supplies, which we distribute to kids through Linkages-to-Learning in late August. We usually collect 40-60 backpacks plus a mountain of school supplies.

As we were thinking about the Advent Families project, we realized that while the children were able to experience the joy of receiving, they rarely had the chance to experience the greater joy of giving. So that year, we set up a “Holiday Shop” at Broad Acres.

Members of the congregation brought small gifts of the sort that children give their parents; we used these to stock the “shop.” One afternoon near Christmas, children came to select and “buy” gifts for members of their family for Christmas. Church members help the children wrap their gifts and select cards to go with them. The children take the task of choosing and wrapping presents very seriously, and it feeds our hearts.

And that year, we began thinking about how cold it is in the winter. So we began our coat drive. The church collects coats all fall, and members enlist the aid of co-workers and friends to join the collecting.

Many members take advantages of shopping at nearby thrift stores where good quality coats are available for good prices. All coats are cleaned and checked to be sure buttons are sewed on and zippers work. Working through Linkages-to-Learning, we distribute coats to the families who need them. Last winter, we gave away 164 coats.

This year, we have begun sending snacks to the school for kids to take home over the weekend and school holidays. With so many children receiving their only meals at school, hunger is a real problem during the days when schools are closed.

Then it became personal for me. I had been looking for a way to volunteer my time in the community. Although I drive past two schools between home and the church, I decided to offer my time to Broad Acres. In 2010, I became a reading tutor for 2nd graders. The school aims to have every child reading at grade level by the third grade; volunteers like me are used to help kids that are just below that standard. I have come to know the school well, and found that Good Shepherd is well known to the school. And every time I see a backpack or a jacket I wonder, “Did we do that?”

“As you do it to the least of these, you do it to me.” The joy in giving, the joy in sharing, the joy in the smiles. We don’t do this because we receive, but in the giving, we receive far more than we could ever imagine.