Blaze Church Helps Teachers In Flanders 'Start Fresh'

“What if we bless the teachers?” Pastor Keith Indovino of Blaze Church in Flanders wondered this year, contemplating an annual back-to-school donation program.

In the past, congregants have filled backpacks for the students at Phillips Avenue Elementary School in Riverside, where some 68 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced lunches, indicating a high level of poverty, according to the website elementaryschools.org.

“Every year, we connect with the school to see if there’s a need.” Indovino explained.

Learning that the school had already received a sizable donation of supplies for the kids, the pastor mused, “What if we give every teacher a ‘Start Fresh’ kit?”

Looking to maximize their outreach efforts, congregants turned their focus to the teachers, who spend so much throughout the year out of their own pockets, the pastor pointed out.

“They’re buying supplies, they’re helping students … We started to have this vision, what if we gave every teacher a Start Fresh kit? Just start the year off fresh — fresh supplies for you, that you’ll enjoy, some stuff that’ll make them smile on the first day.”

The kits would include such items as energy drinks and markers, planners and ChapStick, folders and mints, plus a $50 Walmart gift card.

The message to educators is “There’s a church that’s supporting you,” Indovino said.

Aware of the poverty level status of many of the students, Blaze Church connects with the administration throughout the year, offering food at Thanksgiving, gifts at Christmas, and the like.

Directing efforts toward the teachers helps the students, too.

But there was a surprise in store for the pastor when he visited the school last week to speak to officials about the Start Fresh program.

Indovino recalled speaking to Assistant Principal Alison Conroy. “I told her what we wanted to do, and she said, ‘Wait. For every teacher? You do know we have a lot of teachers.’ And I said, ‘Just let me know the number — what is it, around 30?’”

Indovino learned they’d need to create 59 Start Fresh kits.

“Blaze Church will make it happen,” he vowed, adding, “In my head, I was thinking, ‘God, you have to make it happen.’”

The church is partnering with Flanders Riverside Northampton Civic Association on the program. Collaborating with the church and Riverside Rediscovered, FRNCA has participated in the backpack program for the last five years, Vice President Angela Huneault said, calling the effort “a privilege.”

“This year, we have been given the honor of partnering with Blaze Church with blessing the teachers,” Huneault continued. “The teachers see on a daily basis the needs of their students. We know how much they take from their own funds to provide for their classroom and students. This is such an amazing, joyful, caring opportunity for us, the community, to show our teachers how appreciated they truly are.”

“FRNCA has partnered with Blaze to provide educational support to area children for many years, and the relationship has been terrific for the community,” longtime member Vincent Taldone added. “We are so glad to have Pastor Keith and his congregation so deeply involved in helping unite the community and to provide much-needed material support to families that have modest means. Blaze is truly wonderful. They walk the walk rather than talk the talk.”

The pastor’s wife, Amy, was a special education teacher in a preschool, so the couple is intimately aware of the challenges educators face. “Our hope is that the teachers would know they’re being supported, they’re being prayed for, their efforts aren’t unnoticed,” the pastor said.

He quoted a verse from the Book of Ruth: “The Lord will reward you for your kindness.”

“That’s part of our vision,” he said. He wants teachers to feel rewarded.

The congregation also wants teachers to know the church supports them and is there for them, Indovino said. Each kit will include a message letting educators know, “Blaze Church is here.”

To get involved, supporters can visit the Blaze Church website at blazechurch.org/teachers. Items on a registry may be purchased and dropped off at the church at 50 Bell Avenue in Flanders during the week or at one of the Sunday services at The Moose Lodge at 51 Madison Street, Riverhead.

The kits will be assembled at the church on August 29, with a delivery planned for September 1, the day teachers return for their back-to-school conference.

Meanwhile, services at Moose Lodge? In the seven years since Indovino arrived, the church congregation swelled to outgrow the small space built in the 1960s for the Ukrainian Assembly of God.

The congregation grew, even during the COVID shutdown, thanks to “drive-in” services offered in the yard alongside the church.

Out of space in the church, Indovino quipped, “Now, we’re living out of a van.” Every Sunday morning at 6:45, volunteers arrive to pack up service accouterments, including lights and instruments for musical accompaniment by the church band, items for the children’s area, plus the de rigueur coffee pot for post-service fellowship.