School Supplies

Students at Brentwood Christian School have been generous in supporting Zambian missions. For the past six years we have asked the elementary students to donate their leftover school supplies at the end of the year. We then ship the supplies over on a container and distribute the crayons, paper, markers, glue, scissors, and pencils to the schools at Namwianga Mission.

Zach Strietelmeier was only a second grader when we had our first school supply collection. His mother is a teacher at BCS, so Zach was hanging around after school let out while his mother finished up her work. On his own initiative Zach began sorting all the crayons that had been donated. He carefully separated out the good, unbroken crayons to be sent to Africa. This was no small task, since there were thousands of crayons to sort.

Zach has continued this job every year. Last week he was joined in his efforts by Reagan Smith, another teacher's son who was waiting for his mother to finish cleaning out her classroom. The two of them sorted the crayons, tested all the markers to make sure they were still good, sharpened pencils, and helped pack up the supplies. Since I won't be around next May, I have asked these two eighth graders to take over the entire school supply collection next year, and they have agreed.

Zach and Reagan are two of the many unsung heroes who give of themselves to support the work in Zambia.