Bethlehem Apostolic Temple Passes Out School Supplies This Weekend
Shelley Hanson Trending
WHEELING - The Bethlehem Apostolic Temple will make its annual effort to help students move joyfully back to the classroom with two events this weekend.
The church's annual distribution of school supplies is set to begin at 10 a.m. Saturday at the North Wheeling Dream Center, 407 Main St. in North Wheeling, at the rear entrance. Students must be present to receive the school supplies and clothing available for them at the event. Adults may come for the food that also will be available and adult clothing.
The church’s Back To School Festival, meanwhile, will take place beginning at 5 p.m. Sunday at the Wheeling Park Amphitheatre.
"It's an important weekend for us," Cummings said. "Hopefully, we can bless a number of people.”
He acknowledged there have been challenges this year, and that donations haven't been as plentiful.
"We are grateful to those who participated, but we didn't reach the amount we've had in past years," Cummings continued. "We understand the economy is shifting. We are grateful for what we do have, and how many we can bless. It is coming together."
He noted that when the church started its back-to-school efforts in 1990 there were few entities doing the same thing.
"Now God has blessed us in that other agencies are doing parts of it," Cummings continued. "We know resources are being divided, but we're glad to still be in the number. We feel we are the catch-all to get people to sign up for other things."
The Bethlehem Apostolic Temple doesn't require those seeking help to provide any proof of need or residency.
"If they can't get help from anywhere else, they can get it from us," Cummings said.
He noted the church is prepared to help as many as 500 youths, but that the back-to-school distribution typically attracts 250 to 300 on the average.
"Sometimes it is higher, sometimes it is lower," he said. "We have had as many as 1,000. We are excited for those who do come that allow us to bless them.
At the Back To School Festival on Sunday, the church will give away free cooked food and ice cream. A mini gospel fest will take place there, according to Cummings.
"If there is rain, we are hoping they will let us do what they did in the past and let us use the ice rink," he said. "Our goal is always to send them home with a smile."