If you had visited Spokane Valley (Wash.) Church on Wednesday evenings or the Spokane (Wash.) Valley Adventist School on Thursday mornings, you would have heard the snappy rustling of paper bags being stuffed with food. The school kids were filling lunch sacks as fast as they could with jars of peanut butter, cans of vegetables, packets of crackers and bottles of fruit juice so they could be shipped to local school kids in need.
Last year, the Spokane Valley Pathfinders and the students at Spokane Valley Adventist School packed more than 700 lunch bags for homeless elementary students in the Spokane Valley area.
Even though these needy children are scattered in the homes of foster parents, family shelters and other homeless living facilities, they still don’t get the nourishment they need over the weekends during the school year. They get breakfast and lunch when they attend school on weekdays, but on Friday afternoons they have to face the harsh reality of going two whole days with not much to eat.
Spokane Valley Church and and the school have joined forces with Food for Thought, a homeless-feeding organization in town, and Valley Partners, a local social services organization, plus several other churches to pack food donations for hungry students. Child homelessness has been a growing problem in the Spokane Valley, and many churches and public institutions are combining their efforts to fight this bane in the community.
The Current, a local magazine, estimates the number of homeless kids has risen almost 300 percent in the last 10 years, and Spokane Valley Church is doing what it can do help with feeding these displaced youth. The school kids are learning what it is like to become Christ’s hands and feet in a needy community.
