St. Vincent de Paul Society’s Backpack Ministry
“Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers or sisters of mine, you did for me.”
These words of Jesus from chapter 25 of Matthew’s Gospel outline a focus for the Corpus Christi Conference of St. Vincent de Paul Society and the Backpack Ministry. The St. Vincent de Paul Society engages with volunteers in the parish and Corpus Christi School to serve children and families in the Mobile community with the Backpack Ministry. This ministry provides food each Friday during the school year for identified children from Corpus Christi School and Dodge Elementary School whose families need supplemental nutritional support. The SVDP ministry team works in conjunction with the counselor at each school to provide this service, so that participant identities remain confidential.
The food in each backback/bag provides dietary support for a family of 4 for a weekend when meals at school are not available. This backpack/bag of food include:
2 breakfasts for 4 (such as packets of grits or other cereal)
2 lunches and 2 dinners for 4 (such as ravioli, chicken noodle soup, macaroni and cheese, tuna fish, or peanut butter, jelly, and crackers) with fruit and vegetables
2 snacks for 4 (such as granola bars, snack crackers, or fruit snacks)
After packing the backpacks each week, volunteers insert an inspirational message in each backpack and then pray over the backpacks asking God’s blessing on the children, their families, fellow students, teachers, counselors, the food donors, and ministry volunteers.
The Corpus Christi Conference of the St. Vincent de Paul Society would like to thank all in Corpus Christi parish and Corpus Christi School for their faithful support and generous donations to the Backpack Ministry. During the 2019-20 school year, we were able to provide the identified children and their families a total of 346 backpacks of food (approximately 5,290 pounds of food) with an approximate value of $8,650. The impact of your love through this ministry is incalculable in a child’s increased learning, engagement, and awareness of our community’s care for the least of these.
Invitation to Serve
You are invited to serve people in need by donating to or joining the Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Corpus Christi Conference. Please place donations in the church foyer, food in the pantry basket and cash or checks (payable to St. Vincent de Paul Society) in the Poor Box, or donate on-line or drop off at the church office. For more information about the Backpack Ministry, email pm.hughes@comcast.net To join our conference, contact the president at 251-209-0026. Please visit our website: SVDPCCC.org or our Facebook page at Saint Vincent de Paul Corpus Christi Conference-Mobile AL.
