Burlingame -- August 17, 2006

"The backpack is a fundamental educational need, and many of our poor just cannot afford it. We're going to do something about that."

These are the determined words of Jessica Lack, organizer of "Backpackpalooza," the first-ever event of its kind in San Mateo's Central Park, sponsored by Burlingame UMC, on Saturday, August 5. It provided free backpacks and school supplies to children from low-income families. "This is just the beginning," said Lack. "We hope this type of outreach to the poor will spread to every community in America."

Over five hundred children attended, along with their families, each taking away a new age-appropriate backpack along with some basic school supplies. "We're helping these families get a start on the new school year," said Lack, "and letting them know we're a community that cares." To make it happen, Lack and Ursula Morgenstern, both active members of Burlingame UMC, brainstormed a church-sponsored campaign to lobby the community for help. "It was basically a grassroots, door-to-door effort," said Morgenstern. "We discussed the growing number of families without basic needs and how school budgets were in decline. The pressure on poor students to provide their own school supplies is intense." The result? Several area businesses agreed to donate the free backpacks, and the church raised money for other essentials through bake sales and a car wash.

The first 300 of the children gifted were pre-registered with the Martin Luther King Center; CALL Primrose Center; P.A.L. (Police Activities League); and the San Mateo Medical Center. All of which help families in transition, said Morgenstern. The remaining 200 were walk-ins. The church raised $2,200 in fundraising efforts to pay for expenses.

"The backpacks were the main event," said Lack, "but everyone enjoyed the palooza, too." While acknowledging that no one really knows what palooza means, Lack suggested it might have something to do with the all-day celebration. The Burlingame UMC worship band, Healing Stream, provided live music, and T-shirts, face painting, free popcorn and cotton candy rounded out the day's offerings. "We provided plenty of ways for families to make a new connection with our community," added Lack. A bit like the world-famous Lollapalooza music festival, she said.

"It felt like a little piece of heaven on earth," says Rev. Laurie McHugh, the church's pastor for worship, discipleship, mission and evangelism. "Children were dancing about with painted faces and bubbles and cotton candy in their hands, and people just seemed to bask in the love of God. Our church volunteers really lived out Christian discipleship in their hospitality, and we all saw God's hand at work." She said five new families from the event came to worship at the church the following weekend.

The all-day Saturday event represented "something with which the whole nation is challenged. America is becoming much more of a multiclass, multilingual, multicultural society," said the Rev. David Schlager, senior pastor. "Many of us are struggling with ways to make contact with such an increasingly diverse population. By giving backpacks to the poor, we're making that contact. This helps us build a relationship between the haves and the have-nots, and this could make a difference in all of our lives."