Back to School in Drew County

Back-to-school season brings plenty of excitement, but for some families, it can also bring added financial stress. School supplies, activity fees, and all the expenses that come with a new year can quickly add up.

Last week, we had the opportunity to help a few families in Drew County prepare for the school year. These families weren’t able to attend the community-wide back-to-school events earlier this summer, so we found another way to meet the need.

Some supplies had been generously donated, while additional items were purchased using funds raised right here in the community. For some families, that meant receiving the supplies their children needed. For others, it meant having school activity fees covered for the year.

Families stopped by the Arkansas Baptist Children & Family Ministries campus in Monticello to pick everything up. And for one mom, that visit provided something she hadn’t expected.

While looking through our resource room, she found a birthday present for her daughter.

She had spent the week worrying because she wasn’t sure she would be able to give her daughter anything for her birthday. That day, she left with school supplies for the new year—and a birthday present for her little girl.

It may seem like a small thing, but to that mom, it wasn’t small at all.

Moments like these remind us that caring for families often means meeting the need right in front of us. Sometimes that’s helping a child start school prepared. Sometimes it’s easing the burden of an activity fee. And sometimes it’s making sure a mom gets to experience the joy of giving her daughter a birthday present.

To everyone in Drew County who donated supplies, gave financially, or helped make this possible: thank you.

You may never meet the families your generosity served or see the backpacks carried into school or the birthday gift opened at home. But these families felt your care this week.

Because you gave, they entered this school year knowing they weren’t walking through it alone.