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Back to School Champions: The Girls and Boys of Summer in New York City

On Thursday, August 2, New York Yankee relief pitcher Mariano Rivera was celebrating his 200th winning save from the game the day before. He appeared courtesy of Athletes in Action at two Staten Island churches sharing his faith and his desire to be a true hero that kids can look up to. A few Thursdays later, some 175 fans participating in the Operation Blessing Back to School Challenge watched him pitch and witnessed the 26-time World Champion New York Yankees win the game against Toronto in extra innings.

By accepting the challenge, over 5000 kids in the Metro NY/NJ area this fall will themselves become the "champions" that future generations can look up to. These are the heroes of the Kingdom of God.

As director of CBN Operation Blessing International's New York outreach for 14 years, Rev. Jim Esposito well knows the power of OBI's 17-year old Back to School project. Several years ago, he conceived "The Back to School Promise" where kids receiving new clothing and school supplies make a promise that honors the generous contributions of CBN/700 Club partners and local ministries supplying these blessings. It's a simple concept. Each child promises to stay in school and off drugs. Period. This commitment is their statement of purpose: to excel for the Glory of God with integrity.

With the support of The Love Express, Metro New York's longest running and largest Christian periodical, the Back to School Promise has become a regional challenge. Students that show academic improvement in the last marking period in June are eligible to submit an essay. This year's topic entitled "If Jesus Walked into My School" brought in a number of creative entries. Every challenger won tickets to the Yankee game and other encouraging rewards including gift cards to help purchase clothes and supplies at K-Mart.

Edith Stranges, Editor and Publisher of the newspaper shares, "We want to show the world that the kids in our Metro area ministries are exceptional, talented and strong in the Lord. Their voices need to be heard!" Esposito adds, "In actuality Jesus is walking through the halls of our schools every day - in the hearts of His kids. This challenge empowers them to stand up for truth." Both Stranges and Esposito were at the game in the Bronx sharing in not only the Yankee win, but celebrating the victory in the hearts of all the challenge winners.

Among the challenge winners were many kids who had never been to a baseball game, single mothers who took the day off work to share a summer day with their kids before school started, kids in foster care programs and members of church youth groups that had spent most of the summer doing evangelistic work. This is a good representation of the over five thousand kids that this year's local effort will reach with clothing, supplies, winter wear and promises according to the New York Christian Resource Center, Operation Blessing's New York agency.

Derek, an eight year old with the group, summed it up as his mother with a tear of gratitude for in her eye thanked the event coordinators. "Don't worry, Mom. We'll be back next year!"

If you would like more information about the New York Christian Resource Center fill out our "Contact" form.