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THE WEST ViRGiniA UniTED METHODiST • www.wvumc.org


FALL 2010


LAURA ALLEn


Former West Virginia Area Bishop William Grove prays at the memorial service for the late West Vir- gnia Senator Robert C. Byrd in July. Senator Byrd was the longest-serving senator in the United States Senate. ”Our rivers are salty today, filled with tears as we mourn the loss of our brother, Senator Rob- ert Byrd,” Bishop Grove said in his invocation.


Customers checkout at the Heart & Hand House Community Service Cente August. The thrift store helps fund ministry, like providing assistance to near velopment Outreach Ministries (CDOM), one of seven mission projects of th


Ministry Give Students Tools for Learning By Adam Cunningham


In 1994 Mabscott United Methodist Church in Raleigh County donated ten backpacks to children in need. Organizer Cindy Parker tells a story about a boy who was


made fun for the safety pins holding his backpack together. Operation Backpack gave him a new one. “You would have thought we gave him a million dollars,” Parker said. Today the group donates backpacks and school supplies to as


many as 865 children in 5 counties. Other United Methodist Churches and the community keep


the program going. Cindy has also received donations from as far away as California. “I’m amazed every year of where donations come and I really


believe that God has blessed this program,” Parker said. T is time of year, the fellowship room at Mabscott UMC is taken


over by pencils, crayons and backpacks. Every Sunday a fellow church member gives Cindy the latest sales fl yers to search for deals. “Wal-Mart had a lot of backpacks marked down to one dollar,


by 10:30 that evening we had 29,” Parker said. Cindy and her volunteers work with school counselors, who


discreetly give the backpacks. “T e rest is up to them to do their best, if we give them the


tools,” Parker said. If you would like to donate, send checks to: Operation Backpack PO Box 710, Mabscott, WV 25871


fi nd us on facebook


facebook.com/ wvumc


PHOTOS COURTESy OF OPERATiOn BACKPACK


Backpacks and school sup- plies stacked on a table in the fellowship room of Mabscott UMC in Raleigh County.


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