A Backpack Brings New Life

Rafael, a fourth-grader from Bakersfield, California, lives in a neighborhood where physical abuse and drug trafficking are commonplace. In fact, his father is involved in drugs — so you can imagine what the boy’s life was like.

      But Rafael started attending the S.A.Y. Yes! Center run by a nearby church — where he received the gift of a lifetime: a brand new "PowerPack" backpack!

      Rafael cried. He had never owned a backpack of any kind — his parents could never afford one. And this one was filled with school supplies: a ruler, dictionary, pens, pencils, crayons, paper, and Christian material specially selected for inner-city children.

      That day, he wouldn’t leave the Center until he had given the director a hug! But this was only the beginning...

      The very next Sunday, Rafael went to church for the first time — and he’s still going! Not only that, he’s bringing friends.

      Rafael has become the Center’s biggest helper — volunteering to take out the trash, clean tables and even cook the hamburgers (the Center serves dinner to the children before they go home). One of the Center’s staff said that Rafael makes a point of looking for ways to help. She reports, "He makes having the Center worthwhile!"

      The Gospel changed Rafael’s life, but it was the PowerPack that helped get his attention and set this wonderful transformation in motion.

More Stories of Connecting, Empowering, and Developing:

Empowering: Summer in the City

Connecting: New Life at Easter

Connecting: A House of Prayer in Bakersfield and a Sidewalk in Atlanta

Connecting: From Russia — via Brooklyn — With Love

Other Links:

To give a child a PowerPack, please click here.