Rajmund Dabrowski – Delta, Colorado … Free backpacks for children at Delta Seventh-day Adventist Church was a simple invitation for kids preparing to go to school next month. Interested in serving the community of Delta and near-by towns and villages, members of a local Adventist church agreed to put their Children’s Ministry Fund to support the children going to school in a few days.

Reacting to an invitation posted on the Delta Community Message Board on Facebook, Noemi stated, “Excellent!! These backpacks will surely bring smiles to many faces.” Accompanied by their parents and grandparents, the smiling kids came.

Seeing a colorful display of backpacks, decorated with toys, kids came and simply reacted, “Wow!”

They came on the afternoon of July 18 from Delta, Olathe, Cedaredge and Montrose. Some kids were having a challenge not knowing which backpack to choose.

The project was organized by Ken Timmerman, a retired teacher and former principal of elementary Adventist schools in California and Maryland. Ken remarked that he knew what many of the kids would welcome to receive as a gift, and their parents would spend meager funds on other items needed in school, he remarked.

Watching the excitement that came with the kids and their accompanying moms and dads, Ken shared how it came about organizing the event. “I heard on the news from Denver that a community was giving away backpacks [to kids] going back to school. And I thought why don’t we do it over here, I asked myself,” Ken recalled. “[We are] trying to help the kids in the community, that’s the main thing.”

Timmerman took the idea to the church board and received their support. He invited three siblings from the Gonzalez family, Brianna, Lia, and Nahemiah. They engaged their mother and dad “to take the word into the community.” Information was placed online, as well as at the Delta Library, Recreational Center, Dairy Queen, and a popular Cleland Park.

“We are trying to make connections with the community,” remarked church member Donna Harold, who with her husband John, supported the event.

The church still has backpack to give away and will do so hopefully before the school year starts in mid-August.

—Rajmund Dabrowski writes from the Delta Seventh-day Adventist Church. Photos by Rajmund Dabrowski.