Here’s a list of our new Growth Groups that will be beginning the week of Feb. 5  -   Sign up Sunday at the Vineyard.

About the Program

The BackPack Buddies Program serves children who are food insecure, meaning they do not have “access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life.” (Anderson, 1990)

BackPack Buddies targets kids who access free & reduced-price lunches at school. Children are identi!ed as “in need” by school guidance counselors and site coordinators.

The Vineyard North Charlotte BackPack Buddies Program currently distributes ten backpacks every week and intends to grow to over 100.

Backpacks are !lled with healthy foods and are discreetly distributed to children before weekends or holiday vacations.

Empty backpacks are recollected and re!lled for the next weekend’s use.

Each Backpack Contains:

2 canned vegetables, 1 canned fruit, 2 canned meats or meat stews, 2 packaged noodles, 2 100% juice boxes, 3 boxes shelf stable milk, 2 healthy snacks, 2 breakfast items.

Changing Lives…

A family support worker told me that she had been at the hone of some brothers who participated int he program on several days when they arrived home from school.  she called me to tell me, “You would think it is Christmas because they cannot wait to open the bags up and see what food they have that week!  They espicially like the individual packs of peanut butter.”

When asking a 1st grade student what type of food he ate on the weekend, he replied “Oh…we don’t eat on the weekend.”  When I asked him if he would like to be a Backpack Buddy and explained the program to him, he started jumping up and down with an excited look on his face and exclaimed, “YES, YES, YES!”

How can I get involved?

Sponsorship – Help a child become a part of the Backpack Buddies through a monetary donation.  For less than a dollar a day a child can have access to nutritious food every weekend for an entire year.

1 year……………$350

1 Semester………$175

1 Month…………$39

Go to Online Giving at vineyardnc.org in the drop down menu specify “Backpack Buddies”.  Thank you

Food Drives

Hold a Backpack Buddies food drive with your group, at your office, club, or congregation.  New backpacks are welcome too.

Volunteer

email info@vineyardnc.org and tell our Backpack Buddies Coordinator that you want to become a Volunteer.  We’ll get back in touch with you.

2:30pm January 22 Soccer

At the Dinner of Love (for players only) there will be 15 minutes of sharing by the Saudi’s on How Muslims Love their Neighbor.  Than Thor, representing the Vineyard, will share for 15 minutes about how Followers of Jesus love their neighbor.

It’s an International Worship Celebration at the Vineyard on Sunday, Jan. 22.  We are hoping to have many countries represented.  So…bring yourself, your family and friends.  And…invite your International friends.  It’s going to be a great time of celebrating God’s love for the nations.