Plant Accountant Anna Brewington paid forward $500 to the Backpack Ministry at First Baptist Church in Laurens.
The ministry is a partnership with Laurens District 55 schools that provides non-perishable foods to students who might otherwise go hungry over the weekend while not at school. Each week, 77 students at Laurens Elementary School are discreetly provided with a bag that includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.
Anna said, “I found out about the backpack ministry when my mother started volunteering a few years back. Hearing her tell of the many children here in our hometown that need food when away from school over the weekends was overwhelming. Then I had a child of my own which made that thought much more heartbreaking.”
According to fbclaurens.org, one backpack costs just $25 per month, and the ministry operates on donations outside the church’s annual budget.
To learn more or sponsor a backpack, visit fbclaurens.org/missions.
The Pay It Forward program began in 2015. Every Laurens Electric Cooperative employee is entered into a random drawing to receive $500 to pay forward in any way they choose. Each month a new name is drawn, and the employee then has one month to apply the funds toward their own act of kindness.
This initiative is budget-neutral; the funds come from Laurens Electric’s charity events, which employee volunteers make possible.
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