In the Juarez areas, where Ysleta Lutheran Mission Human Care (YLM) has partnerships with four different mission-churches, many children drop out of school after completing 6^th or 8^th grade, to seek out jobs and help their parents with the family’s financial responsibilities.

For these families, the struggle to maintain their children in school can be disheartening for them, especially when financial crisis affects the ability to pay registration fees, buy uniforms and shoes, or purchase school supplies. Through YLM’s dedication to help promote and encourage education along with Juarez’s mission-churches, families encounter some financial relief when their children receive brand new backpacks filled with the necessary school supplies.

In July, soon after San Pablo Lutheran Church -located in the Lower Valley area of El Paso, TX -distributed over 244 backpacks, including giving 100 to Douglas Elementary School, located in one of the underserved communities of the Lower Valley, Pastor Misael Tovar from the Chihuahua missions visited YLM and took with him 40 backpacks, which were distributed at Iglesia Luterana San Esteban, located in a little providential town named San Lorenzo, which Pastor Misael visits every three weeks.

Working with the Integral Family Development of Mexico (DIF) made it possible to import 395 backpacks into Mexico, including 65 more backpacks for Pastor Misael to distribute at YLM’s second Chihuahua mission-church, Iglesia Luterana Gloria Dei.

Pastor Jose Hernandez, overseeing Iglesia Luterana Santisima Trinidad and San Pedro y San Pablo in Kilometer 30, gave 150 children, among them 16 scholarship recipients, their backpacks the first Sunday of August. At San Lucas, located in Anapra, Pastor Lozano and Deaconess Yessika Lira worked together to coordinate the distribution of 80 backpacks to the children of their congregation and community.

The second Friday of September, Iglesia Luterana La Santa Biblia had their backpack distribution. Along with their own congregation’s children, over 200 students from an elementary school in downtown Juarez, Ignacio de Allende, also received their brand-new backpacks and school supplies. This is the second year this congregation adopted this elementary school, which receives very little federal funding. Distribution days are a special time for these children, who are bused in, not only to receive these backpacks, but also snack bags the Santa Biblia congregation put together, and the reminder of God’s love for them.

The smiles and laughter heard throughout the morning’s distribution at La Santa Biblia were encouraging to all the lay-leaders of the congregation who worked together to organize and execute this large-scale event. As the children skipped off to join their classmates and board their buses, new backpacks in place, YLM’s Interim Executive Director, Karla Gonzalez, stood close by, waving them off with a big smile.

“With every child that walked by me, smiles big as they showed off their backpacks and sought out their bag of treats, I was reminded of why YLM keeps doing what it does,” she shared afterwards, her own smile full of the joy felt throughout the event, “These children are our future, and we’re blessed to be able to not only encourage them in their education, but also in sharing God’s love with them.”

The distribution of 985 backpacks was made possible by multiple donors, congregations and individuals alike, who continue to support and encourage YLM’s mission to help change lives every day. And though a backpack full of school supplies may seem like a simple act of kindness, for the child who receives it, it’s an encouragement to break past the cycles of poverty by pursuing an education that will lead to a better future.

YLM collects donations of brand-new backpacks and school supplies year-round. If you would like to help with the 2024 Back to School distribution, you can donate towards our School Distributions, buy items from the Back to School supply list, or order backpacks in bulk and have them directly shipped to YLM through www.bagsinbulk.com.