Over 80 backpacks with school supplies were brought from Lubbock to be given away during a Phillip Experience in June 2020

Education has taken a drastic change due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which closed down all schools following Spring Break in March 2020.  Now, schools have started to reopen, along with offering online education to children still at home.  Regardless of how children are receiving their education, one thing remains to be true –they need the necessary tools to be able to succeed in school.

Last year was Ysleta Lutheran Mission Human Care’s (YLM) first Drive-Thru Backpack Distribution, and due to the continued lingering safety precautions, the plan between YLM and its partnering churches in El Paso and Juarez is to distribute these backpacks as efficiently and safely as possible.

“We have been doing our distributions as a drive-thru since March,” Miguel Muñoz, Facilitator of Donations and Distributions at YLM, explained, “It’s been working out well for our Food Pantry, and adding on the backpack distribution will be easy to do.”

In 2020, over $500 of gift cards made it possible to purchase needed supplies

As members of San Pablo prepare backpacks, filling them up with school supplies, YLM has reached out to supporters of the mission for what is needed most –backpacks.  This ministry is one done because education is seen as not just important, but necessary.

“We believe in education,” Rev Dr. Karl Heimer, CEO of YLM and pastor at San Pablo, explained, “I always encourage our parishioners and the staff at YLM to better themselves, and for this reason, we want to provide help to families who struggle to make ends meet by making sure their children have what they need to be successful throughout their new school year.”

“We sent out an appeal via email,” Luz Soto, who works in Communications at YLM, shared, “We shared the need for backpacks, mostly, but also included a list of school supplies.  We provided a link to a website that sells backpacks in bulk, making the process of ordering and delivering straight to YLM easy for anyone who wants to help with this ministry.”

Three boxes of backpacks have been delivered in the last week, directly shipped from Bags in Bulk, a company that offers options on purchasing educational and hygiene items in bulk.

Zion Lutheran has been supporting the Back to School ministry at YLM for several years with supplies

“Last year, we received over $500 in gift cards,” Maritza Muñoz, San Pablo’s Mission Facilitator, recalled, “We were able to buy school supplies.  We are hoping to receive just as many this year so we can make sure all kids who come to us needing a backpack full of school supplies receive one, not just here in El Paso but also in Juarez.”

For the last few years, over 1,000 backpacks are given out to children of El Paso and Juarez.  Last year, children from over six different school districts received backpacks with school supplies.  Region 19, one of the areas in El Paso with the low income families, reached out to connect several families to San Pablo and YLM for the toy distribution in December.

“We have reached out to them to let them know about the Back to School distribution,” Maritza explained, with Luz adding, “We are also going to be passing flyers at the Kennedy Projects next to our campus.”

If you would like to help make our 2021 Back to School Drive-Thru the best yet, you can donate backpacks and school supplies.  To directly ship backpacks, you can purchase at www.bagsinbulk.com, you can also mail in gift cards from Walmart, Target, Amazon, VISA, MasterCard, and American Express or donate to Education Programs through our YLM website!

Needed school supplies:

• One-subject spiral notebooks

• Pocket folders

• Composition notebooks

• Rulers

• Scissors

• Glue sticks or glue bottles

• Crayons or colored pencils

• Markers

• Erasers

• Pens (Black, Blue, and Red)