Ready for the Kids to Register....
You may be wondering what I've been doing with myself these past 3 weeks. Well this is one of the events that I've been helping to plan for a few months.
The "Back To School Blast".
I can't tell you who loves this event more Our Church members, or the Community that comes and participates. We have been doing this event for several years. I think it probably started about 7 or 8 years ago. I'm ashamed to say I donated to it, but never participated. No particular reason, this is just a very busy time of year, Summer is winding down and the garden is coming in full tilt.
About three years ago I joined the OutReach Ministry Team at our Church. We decided to continue the Back To School Blast, and we wanted to kick it up a notch or two. I think many people feel like I did. It was the biggest Community event we hold and we wanted to add some fun extras to an already great event.
This year along with games, face painting, popcorn, cotton candy, sno-cones, punch, dunk tank, Fire Truck/Fire Fighters/safety coloring books, goodie bags full of basic school supplies (folders, pens, crayons, pencils, spiral notebooks, glue sticks, bookmarks, erasers) free drawings for prize packages of school supplies and backpacks. We added a Child ID program and Haircuts.
Ummm Yummy Cotton Candy...
what a wonderful day !!! We registered over 100 kids. A local hair salon *HeadQuarters Family Hair Salon donated 30 free haircuts and 20 free mini-manicures. Our Local City Police dept. provided a special ID program that is all digital. The $7000 donation from the local Kiwanas allowed the City of Burton Police Dept. to purchase the special program. Everything is put on a CD and given to the parents. It's really cool.
Wow Look at the School Supplies !
All those School supplies were donated. Yep I said donated. Over 300 spiral notebooks, 1000 ink pens, well over 100 boxes of crayons, at least 100 glue sticks, and folders. hundreds of pencils and 79 Backpacks. Our local Meijers store donated a $200 gift card that we used for some of the supplies, and some of the food we used. Members also donated pencil boxes, markers, colored pencils, scissors, rulers, calculators, composition books, mechanical pencils, loose leaf paper, and binders.
I can't tell you how awesome it all was the night we put the bags of school supplies together.
face painted -check
New backpack full of school supplies-check
the best cotton candy on earth-check
Then the day of the event finally arrived. I can't tell you how many smiles we saw that day. Kids with fresh haircuts, and freshly painted faces. Kids playing games, blowing bubbles and hula hooping. Kids proudly showing off their new backpacks and putting their bags of school supplies in them. Smiles all around. On every child's face. On the faces of Parents, and Volunteers. All because people chose to give.
Many gave not only school supplies, but time and talent. Some sacrificed warm dry clothes for the cold water of the dunk tank. Some Sacrificed 20 minutes to clean out that gooey cotton candy machine, and others sacrificed clean dry hands and arms for sticky sno-cone syrup covered hands and clothes.
Four Hair Stylist Sacrificed 2 hours on a Sunday afternoon to cut hair on squirmy kids who didn't always look to happy about the way "mama" wanted it cut.
A Police Officer Sacrificed 2 hours of his time after working a full shift that morning. (He had also worked 16 hour days that week at a huge local event)
A great day of Fun...
When People Give Great Things Happen. A lot was given that Sunday afternoon. Smiles, kindness, The Love of Christ. It was spread around and it covered every adult and child.
The generosity of all from the Kiwana's who made the Child ID program a reality. to Meijers for the gift card,, the Stylists of HeadQuarters, the off duty Fire Fighters and Police officer, along with the members of Eastgate. A Great thing happened. The lives of children and their parents were made a little brighter.
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