More Than Backpacks

I've already written about our partnership with Willard Elementary, but I wanted to give you a few quick takeaways from the day. You see, at Living Water we're not new to community outreach events. It's in our DNA. Over the years God has poured out His blessings on us and we honestly believe that the more we honor Him with our finances the more he blesses and sustains us. So when it came to Willard it was a no brainer, it's in our wheel house. What we didn't realize is how deeply personal this relationship would become and how the backpack drive would affect a few or our employees.

Most of the time our outreach is done behind the scenes. We prefer to donate time and money anonymously but we knew that for some reason we were supposed to take the lead in regards to Willard. Lisa Fairburn, one of our owners, has worked countless hours with the principal and staff to get this backpack drive off the ground. When it came time to hand the backpacks filled with school supplies to the students and parents we wanted to include some of our employees to help them understand that this is part of our company culture. Here are few stories and takeaways from that evening.

Kaileen recalls; "I was giving out backpacks to 4th through 6th graders, and it was an amazing experience. Parents had such fantastic reactions when they realized that they didn't have to pay and the backpacks were filled with school supplies. I didn't see one unhappy child, they were all so excited. One little boy was almost in tears when he said 'I've never owned a new backpack before.' It was all I could do to hold back tears. Such a great experience."

Brenda said; "The children's faces were priceless. When they realized that they were getting new backpacks.... it was like Christmas for them. Several of the parents eyes welled up with tears because they weren't sure how they were going to afford either backpacks or supplies. Words can't describe how appreciative they were. Perhaps the icing on the cake for me was how welcoming and appreciative the staff was. Amazing all around!"

Christina echoed; "Something that I took away from the event, was when a mom broke down in tears because she couldn’t believe the backpacks had all the supplies in them. I was raised in a household that didn’t have a ton of money, so I thought this project was a great idea. It was cool to be able to give back to the community and I look forward to future opportunities to serve locally!"

These are just a few of the stories coming out of just that one night. We thought this might brighten some of your days. If you would like to get involved with our partnership with Willard Elementary please  go to our "contact us" page and put "Willard" in the comments section.