Mission Italy ISD was in full swing Sunday night when members of Central Baptist Church met to pack school supplies into backpacks for Italy ISD students. Thirty-seven adults and youth filled the backpacks and prayed for the students and families that will receive them.

“This project is very important to me personally,” said Central pastor Joseph Barrett. “The First United Methodist Church here in Italy has been providing school supplies for Italy students for several years. We wanted to help with this effort. We collected backpacks and school supplies to go in them. I feel the church should adopt and care for our school district.”

The backpacks loaded with school supplies are being distributed through the Italy Ministerial Alliance Food Pantry. Susan Wooten, Food Pantry Director, spoke with the families that will be receiving the backpacks.

“Every family is so appreciative of the backpacks and school supplies,” Wooten said. “We are the only local charity here in Italy. We want our families to receive a blessing because of this.”

The food pantry serves approximately 100 families from Italy, Milford, Avalon and Forreston each month. Each family receives 2 grocery bags filled to the brim with canned vegetables, soups, pasta, cereal, frozen meat or fish when available and eggs.

“It cost about $1,100 per month to keep the pantry going,” said Wooten. “We can feed local families because of the generous donations we receive. We are hoping that local businesses and individuals will consider a monthly donation to help us.”

A majority of the food distributed is purchased at the North Texas Food Bank and that is why monetary donations are so important. Here are some examples of what donations can buy:

$2.00 – 12 cans of tuna fish
$2.91 – 24 jars of peanut butter
$3.64 – 24 cans of vegetables

Anyone interested in donating should mail their check to Italy Ministerial Alliance, P.O. Box 750, Italy, TX 76651. No donation I too small.

“We would like to thank Spring Market for donating all the notebook paper. I am hoping that the backpacks and school supplies will give those that receive them a leg up during this time of year,” Barrett said.