Greg and Sue Smith, CBF Field Personnel in Fredericksburg, Virginia, are helping Latino immigrant children be well prepared for school this fall. Through LUCHA Ministries, Inc.’s School Supplies Project for Latino Children, they fill each child’s school supply list, engage in personal contact with families, and offer various types of support throughout the school year. The School Supplies project is part of an ongoing ministry emphasis for these families.
Your help is needed. You can help in the following ways:
1. Collect actual supplies and deliver or send them to LUCHA Ministries.
Click here for a 
list of what is needed.
2. Sponsor a “school supplies sale” for LUCHA with coupons representing various items, and allow persons to “purchase” supplies. Click here for information on how to do this. Send the proceeds to LUCHA.
3. Provide funds to sponsor a child, or to help purchase supplies. Please send checks to LUCHA Ministries, Inc., P. O. Box 8239, Fredericksburg, VA 22404-8239, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization recognized as a public charity by the IRS. For more information on the organization or on the Smiths’ ministry, click here.
4. Pray for the children listed below and other immigrant children with similar stories.
The following profiles are of several children who have received school supplies in the past and some information on their backgrounds, along with approximate costs for filling the list of a student in this age group. Your donations are an investment in their lives and education.
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Kindergartners and first graders – average cost for supplies: $10 
Sue helped K’s mom enroll him in school for Kindergarten. K was very excited about school, but it would not be an easy year for him. K, a native of Mexico, did not speak English and was a special needs student with developmental delays. Sue helped K’s parents keep in close contact with his teachers and other school personnel throughout the school year as they worked together to develop an educational plan for K that would help him learn and grow in independence and self confidence.
 Elementary school students – average cost for supplies: $35
Many immigrant parents are frustrated because they do not speak English well enough to help their children with homework, and the students struggle. LUCHA has teamed up with a local church to provide an after-school program for Spanish-speaking elementary school students in a low-income neighborhood. The children are thriving with the extra attention from their tutors, and the parents are learning to support and encourage their children at home. Each of these 18 children receives school supplies.
Middle school students – average cost for supplies: $30 
Middle school has been hard for J, who is in the 8th grade and just can’t seem to stay out of trouble. But he’s a member of LUCHA Ministries’ youth group, has received regular mentoring services throughout the spring semester, and has helped LUCHA with food distribution to needy families and worked in the community garden. “At LUCHA, [everyone] believes in us and wants us to do our best and to be good. This helps us believe in ourselves,” says J. Well over half of the students who receive school supplies each year are youth.
 High school students – average cost for supplies: $25
A, a 9th grader and the oldest of five children, is largely responsible for taking care of his siblings. He, his mom, and his siblings moved to the United States after his dad was killed during a robbery in Guatemala. A’s mom struggles to make ends meet by working at a local fast food restaurant and is thankful for the support of LUCHA Ministries and its work with at-risk Latino teens. High school drop-out rates for Latino students are double those of non-Hispanics, and highest among foreign-born students. Providing school supplies eases the financial burden for struggling families, reinforces the value of education, and helps students stay in school.
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