Letter of appreciation from St. Louis Public Schools.

Photo by Regina Holmes

Worshipers bring back packs full of school supplies for the St. Louis schools, during a Sunday morning offering at the 2012 Annual Conference.

The following letter of appreciation from the St. Louis (Mo.) Public Schools has been shared by the Conference Office. Addressed to past Annual Conference moderator Tim Harvey, it thanks the Church of the Brethren for school supplies donated by those who attended the Conference in St. Louis in early July. The letter was signed by the school district’s Volunteer Services Specialist:

“Dear Pastor Harvey, such a wonderful gift to our children and our district! We certainly had no idea that you would completely PACK one of our big St. Louis Public School District trucks with more than 430 ‘stuffed’ book bags and enough book supplies to fill almost an entire classroom.

“On the last morning of the Conference, the day we picked up all of your gifts, I had the chance to meet your father and then a Conference participant whom I told that we would be bringing things to our International Welcome School--a place where students and families who just arrive in the United States as refugees come until they are settled here. I was hoping that I could have brought you by the school before you left town so you could see up-close how important your gift was. (As we were dropping off the book bags, a family of seven with only what they were wearing walked in from Somalia.) Perhaps sometime you will have the opportunity to come back this way and visit.

“Please tell your colleagues and fellow-members how grateful we are for ALL of your gifts--the supplies, the bags, the checks!”

Source:8/22/2012 Newsline