My church has a strong summer tradition, dedicating a full week in June to a children’s ministry program. That started as a Day Camp ministry in partnership with a local camp. Then, we experimented with VBS (Vacation Bible School) programming/curriculum for about a decade. We have now returned to our partnership with local camps. (Though some congregation members will always call it “VBS” no matter what we do!) But through it all, there is one thing that stands out as the “best thing” we ever did, and continue to do; a tradition that started before I began working here.
More than 15 years ago, someone casually mentioned, “What if we did a food drive during the week?” and the rest is beautiful church history. Every summer, our kids lead the church in a big food drive for our local food shelf.
Our children’s ministry food drive started with a small goal: something like “100 Pounds of Food” for the food shelf. The next year, the goal jumped to 200 pounds. The numbers just kept going up and up. Soon, we regularly collected over 500 pounds of food for the food shelf. As we built stronger connections in our community, we tried to find a healthy balance between collecting food and collecting money. (Congregation members were quick to report that the food shelf could do more good with money collected instead of goods.) And yet, we heard beautiful stories about young kids asking to go to the grocery store, or digging through their own kitchen cupboards, looking for donations. Whatever we collect, we know that we are planting good and beautiful seeds, in our congregation and in our community.
If you would like to add a Food Drive component to your summer children’s ministry, here are a few things I have learned throughout the years:
- Decorate Paper Bags
- This “arts and crafts” activity has beautiful layers to it. On the one hand, it’s a great activity to do during your children’s ministry program. Most years, we print off a coloring page type flyer to staple to the bags. The flyer includes basic information about what we are collecting and why. When the kids bring home their craft, the caring adults learn about the food drive. (Great communication)! Then, the kids can fill that same bag and return it to the church. (Great practical logistic!)
- Connect with your local food shelf organization *before* your event
- Over the years, we have learned to ask “Is there a specific item that you need most right now?” Then, we can design our entire Food Drive, announcements, etc… around that very specific need. In past years, we have collected boxes of cereal, boxes of macaroni and cheese, and one year a very specific “cans of soup with pop-top lid so that individuals without a can opener have a meal they can enjoy…” I have seen kids get more excited, and caring adults more generous, when there is a very specific item that they are asked to collect.
- Ask for Help Delivering the Items
- I would also suggest making a plan to drop off the donations early in this process. If you are personally involved in the full week of children’s ministry, you might be too busy (or tired) to drop off donations at the end of the week. Recruit a parent or congregation member to do this for you! It’s a great way to involve someone who may not otherwise engage in your week of children’s ministry. And, if you connect with the local food shelf early, they may even be able to create an environment where kids in your program can help deliver the donations. In our church, our 5th and 6th graders are able to deliver the donations. There’s something really powerful about these older kids seeing where the donations go in our community. Again, beautiful layers of teaching, learning, and hands on experiences.
- Connect with the wider congregation
- We ask kids to bring in food shelf donations, but we also ask the entire church! This helps members of the congregation who are otherwise disengaged with our children’s ministry to get excited with us. They can support the children’s ministry – and the wider community – in a very tangible way. Remember the food bags I recommended decorating? Another beautiful possibility is to ask kids to decorate extra bags that you can pass out to the congregation.
- Count and Celebrate
- Give the kids a chance to see the donations, count the donations, pack up or organize the donations, and of course celebrate! Spray a leader with silly string, or pour slime over someone’s head, or do a good old fashioned “pie in the face” moment. At our church, the group that brings in “the most” donations is able to vote for a leader to do something silly if/when we reach our goal. Consent is a big part of this but check and see if your pastor would be open to a silly little celebration at the end of the food drive. And of course, take lots of pictures! Share with the whole congregation photos of big pile of food drive donations. If possible, share photos of kids carrying those donations. And, share photos of whatever you do to celebrate the end of the week as well.
If your church provides a week of VBS or Day Camp (or something similar…) consider adding a Food Drive to your ministry tradition. It’s a great way to engage all ages, make a difference in your community, and add layers and layers of beautiful Christian education to your programming.