Children & education support
Backpacks, school supplies and shoes at the start of the year, and kids' clubs, Vacation Bible Schools and block parties through it.
A backpack, a set of notebooks and a pair of shoes can equal a week of household income at exactly the moment school starts, and children notice who came unprepared. Each year our teams and donors supply children in the colonias with what they need for the first day, distributed through their own neighborhood church rather than a distant office. Alongside the supplies, mission teams run Vacation Bible Schools, kids' clubs and neighborhood block parties — free, safe, loud, and often the only organized activity available to children in a colonia during the summer.
From the work
Back-to-school season
Texas school supply lists run long, and for a household stretching a single seasonal income across several children the total lands at exactly the wrong time of year. We assemble grade-appropriate kits — notebooks, folders, pencils, crayons, scissors, glue, a backpack that will survive the year — and distribute them through neighborhood churches in the two weeks before classes begin, alongside shoes and socks where donations allow.
Summer clubs and Vacation Bible School
Colonias rarely have a park, a library branch or a summer program. A five-day kids' club at the church fills that gap: songs, games, a craft, a snack, a lesson and adults who learn every child's name. Teams typically run morning sessions for 40 to 150 children, with older youth helping lead. Block parties extend the same idea to whole families for an evening.
Child safety and supervision
Adult volunteers working directly with children complete a background check before the trip, and we hold to a two-adult rule — no volunteer is ever alone with a child. Sign-in and sign-out is run by the host church, activities stay in view of other leaders, and photographs of children are only taken and published with a parent's permission.
What sticks after the week
Visiting teams leave; the church does not. Every child who attends a club is a family the local congregation now knows by name, which is how a food box, a home repair or a health referral finds the household that needs it later in the year. The supplies matter for a semester. The relationship is what carries.
How it works
- Backpack and school-supply distributions before the academic year
- Shoes, socks and blankets distributed at partner churches
- Vacation Bible Schools, kids' clubs and block parties run by visiting teams
- Local churches keep contact with families after each event
Who it’s for
- School-age children in the colonias served by our partner churches
- Open to every child regardless of family faith, background or status
- Families can ask at their neighborhood church or contact our office
- No cost to participate
What we’re seeing
- Children start the school year with the same basic supplies as their classmates
- Summer clubs give colonia children supervised activity where there is no park or program
- Events introduce families to a nearby church that can help long after the team leaves