As summer winds down and the school year rapidly approaches, one church wanted to make sure dozens of children were able to be prepared on the first day.
Members of Greater St. Peter Church Ministries in Kinston went to the Lenoir County Boys and Girls Club on Thursday to deliver backpacks filled with school supplies.
Dr. Moses Pitt — the pastor of Greater St. Peter — said 100 children from kindergarten to high school would receive paper, pencils and composition books with the book bags.
“I live in this community and am the pastor of a church here,” Pitt said. “I work with a lot of youth and this is my way of giving back.”
Pitt received private donations and financial backing from Goodwill in order to give to many children and families who could use the assistance.
“The way the job market is and with many single mothers going through financial stress, we felt this would give them a jump start on the upcoming school year,” Pitt said. “There are a lot of single mothers at the church and this was one of the inquiries.”
Boys and Girls Club volunteer J.J. Williams agreed with Pitt, saying the supplies would benefit families who may have problems getting them.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for kids to get supplies and save the parents a lot of money,” Williams said. “Some parents may struggle to get these materials, and book bags can definitely be expensive.”
The children receiving the items were excited, smiling when they viewed the layout of the book bags and the materials in them.
“I like the school supplies and they’re going to be helpful for my family,” 10th-grader Chastity Worley said.
“I’m going to use (the supplies) and tell my friends about the church I got them from,” third-grader Jacob Stocks added.
Sonya Howell — the unit director for the Lenoir County Boys and Girls Club — was glad to have the church come and deliver with its outreach ministry.
“It’s a wonderful event,” Howell said. “Most of the children wouldn’t receive these supplies in another way, but the church made sure they were looked after.”
Junious Smith III can be reached at 252-559-1077 and Junious.Smith@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JuniousSmithIII.