Five churches in the South Bay area -- Shalom Church, Faith Presbyterian Church of Torrance, South Bay Mission Church, The Branch (the English ministry of Podowon Baptist Church), and Crosslife (the English ministry of Gardena Presbyterian Church) -- came together on Saturday morning to prepare sets of new backpacks and school supplies to give to homeless children in Lawndale School District. The gifts will be given to 200 elementary school students on Tuesday.
South Bay Mission Church held a backpack drive for Lawndale School District last summer as well, but this year, it reached out to the pastors of the four other churches to combine resources and provide for more children. Each church had sign-ups for the members to give $25 each for the effort, and ultimately, $1,000 was raised by each church.
"Someone once asked me the question, 'If your church disappeared, who would miss you?'" Pastor Tim Lee, who leads South Bay Mission Church, said regarding how the idea for the backpack drive first came about.
"We started asking the community how we can help out, and we found that Lawndale School District had the most need," Lee explained, adding that some 180 students in the district are homeless.
Meanwhile, pastors of the five churches are a part of a gathering called South Bay Together, a gathering that initially began as a networking and fellowship group and eventually evolved into one that joins efforts to serve the community together. Members from the five churches went to Thailand together as a joint mission trip to serve in an orphanage last summer.
