Walnut Hill Community Church’s Derby Campus is providing back-to-school clothing assistance to students in need for the 2017 – 2018 school year.
Over the past few years, Walnut Hill’s Derby Campus has provided $15,000 worth of back-to-school clothing assistance by giving each student $100 of new back-to-school clothing.
They are continuing their efforts for the 2017 – 2018 school year.
“It’s been wonderful to witness the smiles on the faces of the children and parents when they receive their clothes,” said Walt Mayhew, Campus Pastor of Walnut Hill’s Derby Campus at the corner of Smith and Ninth Streets in Derby. “Their sincere gratitude and thankfulness is such a blessing.”
The church is looking raise $10,000 this year to outfit at least 100 students.
“With 7 out of 10 Derby students meeting the federal poverty guidelines for free or reduced lunches, the need is great. Every year, the number of students referred exceeds our ability to provide. So we are expanding our efforts,” Mayhew said.
In addition to contributions from those attending in Derby, Mayhew has received permission from the church’s leadership to seek donations on behalf of Derby students from all who attend Walnut Hill Community Church, a large multi-site church with locations in Bethel, Derby, New Milford, Seymour and Waterbury.
Additionally, he has also started a Go Fund Me page so that kindhearted people from the community can join with the church to help meet the need.
“In many ways, Derby is a far different community from the one I grew up in,” Mayhew said. “But the one thing that has remained consistent is the people of Derby have a huge heart for those in need around them. I am confident there are many who will want to join with us to meet this need.”
Mayhew explained what motivates his congregation, which sees about 50 attend each Sunday, to embrace such a large undertaking.
“For us, our back-to-school initiative is just another opportunity to live out our faith in obedience to Jesus’ teachings to love God and our neighbors and at the same time make our community a better place to live, work and play.”
Such initiatives are not new for this small church. The church is involved annually in a number of community-based events consistent with its purpose.
It also hosts the Derby’s B.E.S.T. 5k Run – Walk, which has raised more than $10,00 to date to provide funding for classroom-based projects requested by school district professional. Those projects work to enrich, enhance and improve the educational experience of the students in the Derby Public Schools.If you are interested in making a donation to provide back-to-school clothing assistance to a Derby student in need through the Go Fund Me page established by Pastor Mayhew, the URL is https://www.gofundme.com/derby-back-to-school-2017.
