by Joseph Back

“When do we get to start doing the Jesus stuff?” Vineyard movement founder John Wimber famously asked in the 1980s. More locally and in the present, Trinity Vineyard Church on County Road X, a congregation which came out of Epiphany Lutheran as Trinity Christian Fellowship in the 1980s and is now affiliated with the movement Wimber started, held its annual back-to-school giveaway last Saturday August 1, with pre-filled backpacks sealed in plastic and some handy snacks available to all who drove up—no questions asked. Stanley resident Beth Peterson, who coorganizes the event along with her husband Brian, filled us in on the details.

“What they’re doing is they come in and get a card,” Beth said, with a volunteer handing them out at the entrance to the church parking lot. Those who showed up Saturday could then drive around in a circular loop to a set of tables near the church itself staffed by volunteers, where they could choose from 12 different backpack colors and also enjoy their snack of choice, with donations from Hansen’s IGA (string cheese), Kwik Trip (three cases of fruit), the Thorp McDonalds (ice cream cone coupons), and one local retailer who preferred to remain anonymous. Meanwhile, the personal information and identity of those coming through the line was also kept strictly confidential by the church. And while Trinity Vineyard often receives funding for the backpacks from elsewhere, they chipped in the money in advance this year to meet the back-to-school deadline amidst COVID-19 restrictions and other realities. Volunteers at the giveaway event this Saturday were all sporting face coverings to help keep others safe, not just themselves. As of Saturday, Wisconsin had 54,002 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with face coverings a protective measure.

“We did have to change because of the virus,” Peterson said of the present backpack giveaway by the outreach-centered congregation. Ordinarily the backpacks would pass through more hands in the process of getting prepped and making it to the donation site, but this year the number of hands was minimized as much as possible, while turnout was still substantial.

“We had a lot of cars with one, some two or more,” Volunteer Linda Hakes said of families coming through the giveaway lane. Peterson chimed in that people would be served no matter where they had come from and of the volunteers on hand that “without this group of people we couldn’t do it.”

Trinity Vineyard also operates a food pantry and said that those who missed the event could come then as well, though it was shared by another member that all backpacks on the site were distributed by 12:30 p.m., a half-hour before the scheduled end of the event. A lot of that traffic came early in the day, when things started at 10 a.m.

“We had a line all the way around,” one volunteer shared of the packed parking lot earlier. Meanwhile, if anyone would like to help with a donation they may send it to the following address:

Trinity Vineyard Church P.O. Box 46 Stanley, WI 54768

“We got a great group of people here,” Peterson said of Trinity Vineyard out on County Road X.