by Richard Sandberg

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It all started two and a half years ago when I was sitting in a principal’s office asking, “How can our church help your school?”

The principal looked at me and said, “Our teachers are struggling. Teaching has always been hard, but since COVID, a lot of our teachers have become very discouraged, with some even giving up the profession altogether. The first week in May is Teacher Appreciation Week. We try to do what we can to encourage them, but it would mean a lot if they knew their community cared.”

It was from that moment that Operation Appreciation was born.

I am married to a teacher, so I knew firsthand the struggles they face. We started with a simple idea: What if we could give every teacher the night off from cooking—not just for them, but for their entire family? And what if a meal could be more than just food, but an opportunity to point them to Christ?

So, on the first Monday of May, teachers drive across the street into our parking lot to pick up their meals, with church members holding handmade signs and cheering as they drive through our “Chick-fil-A-style” drive-through.

We started with one school, and in the beginning we tried to cook everything ourselves. This year, at our third annual Operation Appreciation on May 4, we provided a barbecue supper for every educator at New Kent Elementary, Middle, and High School, as well as meals for our firefighters and sheriff’s deputies, totaling 576 meals.

As the event grew, we found community partners to help us scale while still keeping that personal touch. In addition to a full meal, every teacher received a homemade dessert from our Corinth Baptist Cookie Brigade, a letter of encouragement, a devotional book with words of encouragement and prayers for every week of the school year, and a personal invitation to share prayer requests with us so we could pray for them specifically.

You might be surprised how personal some of those requests become.

One teacher was at her first day back at school after having a baby and was already missing her. For another teacher, it was the anniversary of her son’s death. One teacher was caring for a parent with dementia, while another had just lost her dad. But the one that stuck out to me the most was the teacher who said, “I want to believe. Pray that God will help me have faith in him.”

It is a one-day event, but it is something I hear about all year. Every time I walk into the school, a teacher stops me and says they have never felt so appreciated.

The event has opened opportunities beyond a single day. The schools are now calling us with needs and opportunities to serve. Teachers are reaching out for prayer and support in times of family crisis. And some have even started coming to church on a regular basis.

Others have heard about the event and are talking about bringing Operation Appreciation to their own communities—perhaps even as an opportunity for BGAV’s Impact Disaster Response training as they cook and distribute food on a large scale.

For Corinth Baptist, it has been the beginning of a transformational time. “Corinth Cares” started as our slogan and has now become our reputation. All because we got outside the walls of the church, saw a need, and decided to show that we care in Jesus’ name.

Rev. Richard Sandberg is senior pastor of Corinth Baptist Church in New Kent, Virginia, a BGAV-participating congregation. He currently serves on BGAV’s Mission Council.

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