Bag Brigade ready to celebrate fifth birthday

By TAYLOR BROWN

tbrown@yourmvi.com

A special birthday is approaching that hundreds of families, volunteers and residents in the Belle Vernon Area are excited to celebrate. 

The Bag Brigade is turning 5 years old.

Kathy Kelly and Ashley Eisengart started the Brigade as a ministry through Gospel Alliance Church after seeing a need at Marion Elementary School.

A small closet at the church given to the women for storage was filled as parishioners and other residents donated food and money to support the mission. 

At the beginning, 20 bags were packed each week for Marion Elementary students. 

Within six months, it expanded to all four buildings in the school district and nearly quadrupled its impact.

As the fifth birthday of the ministry approaches, nearly 300 students each week have come to depend on the Bag Brigade.

“It has surely been a wild ride,” Eisengart said. 

The women never expected to be operating in the midst of a pandemic, but the virus hasn’t stopped them from keeping children fed. 

“The first week COVID hit we packed bags three different times,” Kelly said. “That was 900 bags in one week, but they needed us and that’s what we are here for.”

In a usual year, bags are packed each week by volunteers at the Bag Brigade’s hub, which is virtually a small grocery store at a new building owned by the church. 

Working hand in hand with school counselors, the Bag Brigade team packs bags for the needed number of students and delivers them to each school every Thursday. Changes in the district calendar due to the pandemic have made things a bit more complicated.   

Children who are involved in the program remain anonymous to volunteers and receive a bag each week during the school year. 

“When the pandemic hit, we had no idea how to get 300 bags across the entire school district in a day at the beginning, but teachers, aides, other employees stepped up and were happy to make it happen,” Kelly said. “They were so excited to see the kids, and the kids equally excited to see them, so that was a true blessing.”

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