The youth group trick-or-treat food drive that took place last weekend was a smashing success, with over 800 items collected. Terry Grant, who ran the food bank side of the event, remarked: "I had no idea this food drive was going to gather the quantity of food it did. The youth group leaders and youth of the two churches did a fantastic job in making this happen, especially at this time of the year. It's community support like this that makes it possible to continue providing food to our community members."
The Halloween food drive has been a recurring activity for years. The area youth programs divide the town in half, using the highway as the line between territories. They then go door to door collecting food for the local food bank. At the start of the evening, the youth leaders flipped a coin to decide where each group would collect. The students of Christ Lutheran were assigned the area west of the highway. To the east, the Church of God kids did all of their door to door collecting.
Jeramie Erie, who runs the youth program for the Church of God, described the evening: "Looking back, we had a really good turnout of kids between the two churches. We ended up collecting over 800 food items. Spicing it up a little bit this year, we decided to make it a friendly competition between the churches. We even purchased a funny trophy made out of cans, like canned food cans. It was a really awesome time. The kids had a blast, got a lot of food bank donations." He went on to explain that this was the most successful year they had seen personally: "I think to my memory, this is the most we've collected since I took over the youth ministry."
The competition for the trophy was fierce, but ultimately, the youth group of Christ Lutheran Church came out victorious with the larger haul of canned goods and other non-perishable food items.
Kristie Rutledge, who helps run the youth group at the Lutheran Church, commented on their victory in the competition. "Jeramie Erie threw down the gauntlet, and the race was on between the Christ Lutheran youth group and Church of God youth group. The kids were excited to set out and gather goods for the Big Sandy Food Bank... Ultimately, the food bank was the winner! For poundage, the Christ Lutheran kids gathered more. They were awarded a fun "canned good" trophy they will keep for the year, until the next drive."
Jeramie summed up the evening's festivities: It was really fun to watch the kids go out and talk to people, knock on doors and ask for donations. They all did a really good job and were super respectful. I had a blast. It was a lot of fun."
Regarding the value of the food drive for the kids involved, Jeramie explained that the service aspect of the evening is a great practical lesson in living out belief. "Especially this year, when we're walking through the book of James, which is a very practical, faith on the ground type book. So this gives them an opportunity to live out their faith, rather than just be taught about it every week... They had a really good attitude about serving others and serving the community."
The food drive trophy will be displayed in the Christ Lutheran youth room until next year, when the rematch will take place. Both churches wanted to extend a hearty "THANK YOU!" for the town's generous donations to the food bank.
