Love for Children

A Local Outreach Program at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Sharpsburg, MD

Love for Children (LfC) serves the needs of the children of Sharpsburg and its immediate surrounding area using congregation and community resources (volunteer time, money and material contributions).

Background

Love for Children (LfC) is a Vestry-overseen ministry at St. Paul’s in its sixth year. From its start, it has set out to help the children of our area. A founding principle was to involve the larger Sharpsburg community in addition to just the St. Paul’s congregation, both a church and community building project. Sharpsburg Elementary School staff are our biggest partner in finding kids’ needs. LfC is somewhat unique in that it goes beyond providing food support for children in need, as reflected in “What We Do”, below. We have no overhead—every donation goes directly to helping local children. Our major limiting factor is volunteer time and imagination.

What We Do

  • Summer Food Program: This is the largest LfC project. Micah’s Backpack¹ pauses its weekend student food-take home service during school summer breaks.
  • Thanksgiving Blessing Program: This is a multi-ecumenical project involving four South Washington County churches. We collaborate to provide Thanksgiving meals to families with children in need.
  • Winter Gear and Clothes: LfC supplies these items to kids through and identified by our SES partner.
  • School Supplies: We provide funds for this, and SES uses its own sources for purchase.
  • Baseball Outing: Once per year, LfC funds a family outing to see a game at the local affiliated minor league club.
    Destination Imagination (DI)
  • Support: DI is a program designed to foster creativity, teamwork, and problem-solving skills in children working in teams. LfC contributes money to the effort.
  • Micah’s Backpack: LfC volunteers hundreds of hours to this program during the school year.

¹Micah’s Backpack is a regional program that provides weekend food for hungry kids during the school year. SES kids are the largest recipient of this program which distributes food to six other South Washington County schools.

Why It Matters

In the best of times, people find themselves in need of help. Kids are especially vulnerable. One of our guiding principles is, “Hungry kids can’t learn.” We live in a time when the accustomed safety nets are breaking down. Christians have a duty to help.

How To Help

St. Paul’s posts opportunities for community donations. Seasonally, we welcome food and money donations. Watch the local Facebook pages and posters placed in local businesses and the Post Office. To donate anything, contact one of the people below. You can also provide money on our homepage by clicking on the “DONATE” button. Join St. Paul’s congregation and become a direct participant in this and other community ministries.