As the fall approaches bringing the
beginning of a new school year, CUPS will be
having another school supply drive to provide
basic essentials for children in Mexico. Just this
week, a letter went out to the many churches that
have supported CUPS in the past inviting them to
participate in this drive. Many children in Mexico
enter the school year without the basic
educational materials needed to be successful.
Along with our partner churches, we would like for
you to join with us in collecting school supplies
for these children.
These school supplies will be collected
and distributed by CUPS to over fifty schools in
Mexico for kindergarten, primary school and middle
school students. We are in need of the following
basic educational materials along with other
optional supplies for students and teachers that
can be found on our website by clicking here.
| Construction paper |
Pencil
sharpeners |
Washable colored marker
sets |
|
Spiral
notebooks |
Scissors |
Liquid
glue |
|
Pencils, #2 |
Glue
sticks |
Dry
erase markers |
|
Pens,
black and blue |
Rulers |
Math
flash cards |
|
Crayons |
Copy
paper |
Books
in Spanish |
|
Erasers |
Colored
pencils |
|
Schools in Mexico begin classes in late
August but it takes a couple of weeks for the
schools to become settled with their enrollments
for the school year. CUPS visits schools or makes
contacts with community friends and leaders to
ascertain the number of students and teachers that
are in need of supplies so that we bring the right
amount of school supplies and enrichment materials
like books and math exercise cards. Each student
is special and we want to ensure that we do not
leave anyone out.
We would
like to have the educational school supplies
collected by August 31, 2014 so that we can
arrange to pick them up for distribution to
various schools in Mexico. Please contact the
closest donation location to arrange for your
school supplies to be picked up. Thank you for all
that you have done to support the ministry of CUPS
as it continues to help the least of these in
Mexico. The smiles on the faces of the students
whose lives are touched by your loving donations
is simply wonderful.
Workgroups
Continue To Serve
After the end of classes this
year, from May
18-23, First Presbyterian Church
Kingwood sent a group of 11 college students and 7
adults on a mission trip to the Rio Grande Valley
that was coordinated by CUPS. CUPS' mission
director, Louise
Flippin, arranged several different
service activities for the week, including
constructing PETs in Stan Marley's PET RGV
facility in Mission, TX, repairs at three homes of
elderly, low income people in two Hispanic
colonias in McAllen, and learning about the needs
of immigrants from the staff of Project Arise, an
agency that provides assistance of all types to
immigrant families in the Rio Grande Valley,
including issues of shelter, food, education,
transportation, and various legal problems. The
group stayed at the First Presbyterian Church of
McAllen, sleeping on the floor in classrooms, and
fixing all its meals in the FPC
kitchen.
Because of the variety of work
activities, the group was divided into three parts
each day, and during the week, the youth were able
to experience each of the different
activities. During the evenings, the group
had a brief worship service in the FPC chapel. All
of the youth and adults on the trip had a very
meaningful experience as they interacted with the
homeowners in the colonias and with each other.
The feeling was one of being God's hands in
service to others, while receiving bountiful
blessings from the interaction with them.
Such was the power of trying to live Christ's
command to love one another as ourselves. The
colonia homeowners we were there to assist felt
this same power. One of them, Crucita Gonzales,
felt moved to cook special Mexican dishes for the
group working at her house, and spent as much time
as she could talking to members of the group. At
one point, Crucita said to me "This week, God has
sent me angels". We rarely, if ever, think
of ourselves as angels, but the metaphor is
appropriate for those seeking to do God's work in
the world, as it is in this endeavor that we are
most like messengers of God.
