FORT WORTH, Texas — Church leaders in Fort Worth hope to have a serious impact on families in need this upcoming back-to-school season.
For months, Youth Pastor Erick Bowens at Chosen Vessel Cathedral Church has been planning and strategizing their huge backpack giveaway. He convinced his Senior Pastor Bishop Marvin Sapp to do the giveaway on a Sunday afternoon. The concept is to not only serve the families already attending the dynamic Sunday Morning Worship, but also others in the community who are welcome to the event as well and already out and about.
"Last year we were able to serve people right here on the campus," said Bowens.
During the backpack give-away, Sapp and his ministry team hope to help hundreds of Fort Worth families starting with those students living in the same neighborhood as Chosen Vessel. But the event is open to the entire Fort Worth area.
They have free backpacks packed with school supplies for students of all ages.
"Every single thing that you need from notebooks to two pencils, mechanical pencils, crayons, colored pencils, notepads, USB drives," said Bowens.
Some of Bowens planning team members are educators so they have a pretty good pulse on what supplies to hand out.
Volunteers will distribute close to 500 backpacks on a first come first serve basis. The back-to-school event is on Aug. 7 at Chosen Vessel Cathedral in the 76119 ZIP Code.
Sapp invites students from any ZIP code who is in need. Helping people is at the heart of his ministry, especially the broken hearted.
After the Uvalde school shooting, Sapp decided parents and students need more than just school supplies.
"It broke me just to see the parents in those positions. I can't imagine losing a child," said Sapp. "Also to supply prayer for them. And their families. Because I understand the anxiety, the fear that the parents actually have sending their kids back to school."
Chosen Vessel Cathedral is surrounded by 15 different elementary and high schools. 76119 has one of the highest numbers of single parent households in the country. The median income is just over $28,000. Plus, many households in the area include families with people who have only a high school diploma and no post-secondary formal education.
Sapp related to single parent households in his area because he and his siblings were all raised by their mother, who kept them in church and off the streets. He and his brothers started their tracks to entrepreneurship by offering haircuts in their neighborhood after perfecting their skills in cutting each other's hair. A trip to the barbershop back then was not in the family budget. Sapp has a soft heart when it comes to people in need.
"The goal is to make sure that when people leave here, that they leave with everything they need to make sure that their young child is equipped," said Sapp.
Sapp's ministry is extremely strong on virtual platforms. Shortly after becoming pastor at Chosen Vessel Cathedral, the pandemic hit forcing him to pivot his ministry and maintain a strong church family forced to worship online. Because of his following online he will also offer the "BACK TO SCHOOL SAFETY PRAYER" over platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
Sapp is also aware the same prayers are needed for other parts of the community as well and invites people to take advantage of the spiritual covering.
"You can go to any of out social media sites, you can go to our church website. I am going to be doing a special prayer for each, and every individual that is going back to school, going back to college, going back to work. The reality is gun violence is not just attached to the school districts," said Sapp. "But it's attached to the world at large."
Regardless of your ZIP code, every student can grab a free backpack and church leaders say more importantly, receive prayer for their safety going back to school.