Common Ground Shares Bread
Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed,
for he shares his bread with the poor.
Proverbs 22:9
Common Ground Collaborative is known for providing volunteers to schools and caring for our community’s children in a variety of ways. One of the more profound ways is by feeding them. It is very difficult for our schools to do the job of educating children if they have empty stomachs. Through government programs, most schools provide a hot breakfast and lunch to needy children five days a week when school is in session. Extended School Services (ESS), La Mesa Spring Valley School District’s before and after school child care program, also receives federal funding to provide afternoon snacks as well as breakfast and lunch during school breaks and the summer. But there are still weekends and other breaks when ESS is not in session.
Common Ground works with Saint Vincent de Paul and Feed America to provide food bags that are passed out to students at La Presa, Kempton, and Highlands Elementary Schools every Friday. We have also provided healthy snacks for students during testing time at all six elementary schools. A program of feeding breakfast to all students at Bancroft on testing days was funded by Common Ground. And because of the success of this effort, the entire school district has adopted a plan to feed all children breakfast during the weeks of state testing.
This past Thanksgiving, we learned that both the schools and ESS would be closed for a week. Common Ground decided to offer fresh food to 73 identified families for the week. With the generosity of the three Common Ground congregations and many local groceries, we met our goal and shared our “bread” (tortillas, apples, oranges, peanut butter, potatoes, onions, eggs, cheese, milk, and of course loaves of bread) with the poor. The congregations were so generous, that we are feeding 60 families during this spring break without having to ask for more donations!
Common Ground indeed has a bountiful eye and is blessed beyond belief.