Exciting Testimonial from a Backpack Packer in California

Kristen's Manna 4 Lempira child

Some people dip a toe into the water and others promptly climb to the heights of the tallest diving board and make a cannonball dive into the deep end of the pool. As one of the newer Manna 4 Lempira sponsors, Kristen has proven herself to be a sponsor of the cannonball variety. And her actions are making a huge splash on the backpack drive.

 

Kristen wasn’t a stranger to child sponsorship and is a longtime sponsor with another organization. She knew about Manna 4 Lempira and Sowers4Pastors through friends. In fact, Kristen wasn’t even a stranger to the backpack drive. Over the years, she has purchased school supplies from a friend’s Amazon wishlist, which were promptly used to fill backpacks. 

A few months ago, Kristen saw the picture of a little girl in need of a sponsor and said to herself, “She’s mine!” This is her 34th sponsored child, but her first through Manna. This is also her first girl to sponsor. Kristen decided to collect a few extra items whenever she purchased things for her child’s backpack. But when Sowers4Pastors released a video about the impact of backpack distribution to the children of Western Honduras, it was just the nudge she needed to jump in.

Sowers4Pastors - Backpack Distribution Impact Short Version 
The video that gave Kristen the "nudge"

She told Allen that she felt that the maximum number of backpacks she could fill was 24. She wanted to know if she should ask for two cases of backpacks “just in case.” Anyone that’s ever had a conversation with Allen knows how funny that is. Naturally, he encouraged her to ask for the extra case and promptly sent her 48 empty backpacks!  

Kristen set up an Amazon registry with all of the school supplies and hygiene items needed to fill four dozen backpacks. Then she shared the project with her friends and family via Facebook. Within four days, she had received almost everything she needed. She was only missing things like a few bars of soap, ten tubes of toothpaste, and some pens. She has extras of some items, such as the 600 spiral notebooks she received. The surplus will be given to Sowers4Pastors to fill other backpacks. 

Photo from Kristen's facebook post
(Link to Kristen's post)

“Mindblowing,” is how Kristen describes this experience. On the first day, she received one box from Amazon. On the following day, she received nine more. She has an entire tub of socks and underwear. She also has things like washcloths. And she is still keeping an eye out for additional items to arrive. 

The virtual backpack drive has allowed people far from Kristen’s home in Southern California to join in the giving. One family in England placed an Amazon order for the effort. Kristen said she knew her close friends and family were generous. She was surprised to find that some of the people she doesn’t know as well were also eager to participate. Some people have also sent donations to be used toward the purchase of supplies. She said she has received messages saying things like, “Let’s send these babies to school!” 

Kristen isn’t complaining about the fact that her garage is so full of boxes that she can’t park in her in it for the time being. She said, “I’m incredibly touched and overwhelmed. This has been a light in the darkness. It’s been a tough year. Almost everything on the news has been depressing. To see people step up with such enthusiasm has been the highlight of my year.” 

Wouldn't you like to have an experience like Kristen's? She actually received everything she needed to fill the 48 backpacks, before the backpacks arrived at her house! Through her friends and family, she collected all the school supplies and other items by mail. Even in the times of Covid, packing backpacks in person is absolutely a viable project! To find out how you can pack backpacks for children in Honduras, send an email to allen at sowers4pastors dot com. It could be the highlight of your year!

 - posted by Christi