Bright Futures

< Outreach

Please contact Katie Harvard for more information or to volunteer.

Stewardship

Bright Futures Mission Statement: Together…committing all that we are to enrich the life of a child.

Bright Futures Frederick/Winchester operates under the belief that when a community invests its time, talent, and treasure into its schools, students are more likely to stay in school through graduation, have a higher degree of self worth and confidence, and set and reach goals for the future. In turn, this inspires students to become better neighbors, quality employees, and impactful leaders in their community.

Bright Futures/Winchester has a strategic plan that centers on three critical objectives: to increase the amount of time the community provides for the needs of the children, to foster an environment where the community lends its talents, and to collect and apply treasures to address unmet needs. Bright Futures serves approximately 1200 students in need. Some examples of their programs are: packing food for students for the weekend; “Stuff the Bus” for back to school needs; providing emergency items for students and their families.

Our vision is to help in ensuring that the students of Winchester and Frederick County have all the support they need to stay in school through graduation, develop a high degree of self worth and confidence, and set and reach goals for a successful future. And our mission is to support Bright Futures and their programs to provide for the students in Winchester and Frederick County.

We will do this by packing approximately 500 food bags once a month at the Bright Futures Distribution Center on scheduled days. Anyone who is interested may contact Katie Harvard or Jody Wall.

Two months out of the year, we ask the congregation to give either food items or school items to Bright Futures for the students.

In August, we collect school items for "Stuff the Bus" - Bright Futures' community-wide school supply drive that supports unmet back to school needs. There is also the opportunity for individuals to help at the actual event which is held the first weekend of August. The sign-up for this event is through the Bright Futures Facebook site.

Throughout the school year Bright Futures may ask for help with other pop-up events. These will be advertised in the weekly email with information on how to get involved.

The church uses the opportunity to sell space on our sidewalks as seating for the Apple Blossom parades in Winchester each May. This is a significant fundraiser and proceeds have been given to Bright Futures for several years. It's an opportunity for many parishioners to volunteer and support the Outreach Committee's largest mission and also a way to be part of an important event in our local community.

We currently give approximately $10,000 a year to Bright Futures for food that is packed and sent home on weekends with children in need, the most support we give any local organization. The committee works in conjunction with the Finance Committee to ascertain how much support is needed to serve Bright Futures for the year, whether it be from the church budget, grants, donations, etc.

Christ Church has always felt that feeding our children is a top priority.

Katie Harvard: klhwsh@yahoo.com

Jody Wall: jody_wall@yahoo.com

The History of the Panda Ministry

During 2013, when we first discerned the need not being filled by school lunch and breakfast programs and realized that so many school kids were going home to families that could not feed them over the weekends, the Outreach Committee investigated to see how ‘backpack ministries’ were being used in other areas to get weekend nutrition to kids. We looked to see what worked (and didn’t work); we looked to see what it would cost; we looked to see if you, our church family, would be willing to step in and make a difference.

We contacted the Winchester City School Board and asked them to identify where the highest need in the city was occurring and they identified Frederick Douglass Elementary as a school in need. Following discussions with the principal and lead guidance counselor, the Outreach Committee recommended to the Vestry to start this new ministry beginning in January 2014 and the Vestry approved.

We started out providing weekend food to about 30 school kids when the ministry started. Now, just over four years later, our contribution of food and time has increased the number of kids served to about 100! Plus, we feel it safe to say that your actions in supporting Panda Pantry raised a great deal of awareness about child hunger within the community and the schools; so much so that Bright Futures – a non-profit organization that combines and leverages the giving resources within communities (much like the United Way) has joined us in feeding additional school kids in both the city and Frederick County. The combined effort now provides weekend nutrition to almost 1,000 children!