WEST PITTSTON – As the calendar hit mid-August, volunteers at Corpus Christi Parish were hard at work, assembling backpacks filled with essential school supplies for nearly 200 children in the local community.
With assistance from a $5,000 Social Justice Grant from the Catholic Ministries Appeal, the annual back-to-school drive is helping ease the burden for families while reminding them that the church is present and ready to help them.
“The parish is helping 175 families in the community with backpacks for their children to go back to school,” Beccie June, who works for the Robinson Counseling Center in Wilkes-Barre, explained. “They’re filled with everything a child could need – from notebooks, pencils, folders, extra paper, scissors, glue – and we also gather toiletries to go back to school with as well.”
Knowing only the gender and grade level of each student, volunteers tailor each backpack accordingly. While the younger students might receive crayons or safety scissors, older students are given binders and even calculators.
“Suppose you have a family with four children, at $25 a backpack, you’re talking about $100 for empty backpacks,” Mary Butera, a longtime member of the parish’s Social Concerns Committee, said. “Here you get binders, ink pens, markers, everything a student could need. We try to make sure they have whatever they might need.”
This project is just one example of how Corpus Christi Parish lives out its call to serve others.
Throughout the year, the parish is committed to a range of outreach efforts that address food insecurity, holiday assistance, and caring for the elderly and homebound.
Because of the Catholic Ministries Appeal, and donations from its parishioners, Corpus Christi Parish can turn compassion into concrete action.
“The Social Concerns Committee has a special place in my heart,” Butera added. “They help so many people – not just at back-to-school time, but all year long.”
In addition to the backpack drive, the parish hosts seasonal food and gift distributions for Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, regularly serving more than 150 families throughout the year. Bags of groceries, holiday meals, and gift cards are regularly distributed to families who struggle with rising prices and food insecurity.
And every month, a dedicated team of volunteers gathers in the church hall kitchen to cook more than 90 quarts of soup from scratch – delivered with love to homebound parishioners and residents in nursing homes.
“When we started, the first time we were cooking for 28 (people),” said Cheryl Sempa Radkiewicz, who helped launch the soup ministry after retiring from teaching. “Now we’re up to 92.”
Volunteers like Carmen Altavilla and his wife, Debbie, are part of the team that makes it all happen.
“We have a group of 8-10 people that are here regularly and then another five or six people that fill in from time to time,” Altavilla stated. “It’s a great activity.”
Even kids get involved in all the efforts.
Krista Medico, who teaches eighth-grade Confirmation prep, makes sure her students understand the deeper meaning behind service projects like the backpack distribution efforts.
“I think it’s so important for our kids to be a part of this,” she said. “Knowing that a child is going to open each of these backpacks and smile, it makes a difference.”
Medico also emphasized the importance of the Catholic Ministries Appeal, which makes efforts like these possible.
“I think it’s important for our parishioners to know where their money is going and what a difference it is making,” Medico added.
For many of the volunteers, their efforts are simply about doing the work God asks of us.
“There are a lot of people that need this stuff. We fill that niche that is needed,” Altavilla ended by saying.