HOW TO HELP

Love & Care Ministries administers the CarePack for Kids program that provides weekend food for children in the Abilene ISD and nine area districts. Each school finds sponsors for the program, but individual donations are needed, too. Donations can be made online at https://subsplash.com/u/loveandcareministries/give.

By LORETTA FULTON

“When we’re out of fruit juice, we’re done,” Terry Davis announced over the PA system.

The warehouse full of volunteers kept on packing plastic bags and stuffing them into blue plastic bins until the last box of fruit juice disappeared.

It’s a scene repeated every two weeks at a warehouse owned by Love & Care Ministries. Volunteers from churches, the Junior League of Abilene, and other organizations show up faithfully to prepare at least 2,500 CarePack for Kids bags. Music and laughter create a festive atmosphere, and the volunteers normally finish in under an hour, thanks to a carefully planned assembly process. 

Terry Davis directs the loading process at a recent CarePack for Kids packing event. At right, Courtney Cox helps pack a bin with filled snack packs. Photos by Loretta Fulton

Davis is director of ministries for Love & Care and oversees the CarePack for Kids project, which provides bags of food for children who may experience food insecurity over the weekends. The Abilene ISD has a 65 percent poverty rate, according to its website.

The CarePack for Kids program started with one school–Taylor Elementary–in the spring of 2019. In 2018 Abilene ISD Superintendent David Young took representatives from Love & Care to Amarillo to see a similar program called Snack Pak 4 Kids. Young was familiar with that program from his time with the Pampa ISD. 

Volunteers listen to instructions during a CarePack for Kids packing event. A banner carries the message of Love & Care Ministries, which partners with AISD and area school districts to pack weekend food bags for kids. Photos by Loretta Fulton

In the spring of 2019, 45 packs were prepared for children at Taylor Elementary. By the end of the 2022 school year, CarePack for Kids had grown to 63,000 packs distributed among 12 elementary schools, four middle schools, and two high schools in Abilene, plus nine more area districts. 

“It’s just amazing how all this has grown,” Davis said. 

Each school identifies the children who may need the extra food and gets sponsors to pay for the packs, which cost $4.30 each. Volunteers pack the bags and school representatives pick them up. Total cost for the 2022 school year was $319,000. 

Each school finds sponsors to pay for the food, but individuals can help, too. Donations can be made online at https://subsplash.com/u/loveandcareministries/give.

As the packing process wound down on a recent Tuesday evening, Davis, the organizer, gathered the volunteers for a closing prayer.

“Thank you for the efforts here tonight,” he said. 

Loretta Fulton is creator and editor of Spirit of Abilene