Bethany Baptist Church
Callao, Virginia

It was brought to our attention that there were children in our community who are hungry. Our children’s mission groups began a Back Pack Feeding ministry so students in our local elementary school will have food to take home with them on weekends. The Back Pack is a discrete way for them to take food items home.

On Saturday, February 16th we took our 3rd-5th grade Children in Action mission group on a “scavenger hunt” for food items. We took 4 cars with children and visited 18 homes in our church community on a “Scavenger Hunt” for food items for our backpacks. We are very grateful to all who participated in this event. Thanks to Nathan, Abby and Anna who spent a good part of the next Monday afternoon sorting, organizing and counting the items. We have some numbers to share with you. The following items were received along with 4 new backpacks!

347 pudding cups, 125 fruit cups, 241 pkg of chocolate/sweets,
180 applesauce cups, 118 poptarts, 31 individual serving bags of peanuts,
236 pkgs of peanut butter crackers, 80 pkgs of cheese crackers, 48 jello cups,
337 drinks, 39 servings of macaroni and cheese, 49 sm bags of chips,
120 servings of cereal, 28 cans of Vienna sausage, 54 pkg of raisins,
20 cans of spaghetti o’s, 43 servings of chicken noodle soups,
5 jars of peanut butter

For a grand total of 2133 individual servings of food!

Thanks again for all of your efforts. This will be an ongoing project so we may need your help again in the future. Currently this mission project is meeting the needs of 2 children in our local elementary school, however we do hope to expand this ministry to other schools.

Blackstone Baptist Church

We made "Do Me" booklets and delivered them to Madeline's House, a shelter for abused women. There are children there sometimes, and we made these booklets and took them there along with some stuffed animals and candy.

The children enjoyed making these booklets. We included the following items in the booklets: crayons, pages to color, pencils, dot to dot sheets, puzzle, sucker, and a story. We received a very nice note from Madeline's House thanking us for caring about the children.

Bon Air Baptist Church
Richmond, Virginia

Our children and their families were “very good neighbors” as they decorated and filled thank you bags for service people in our community.  A special visit from the local Fire Department was a highlight of the day.  Our families at Bon Air had a delightful time of giving, and they look forward to another successful CMD event next year!

Buckingham Baptist Church

9 children, 1 teen leader, and 5 adult leaders from the CIA and YOM of Buckingham Baptist Church gathered at the church on February 16 at 2:00 p.m. for the first Children’s Ministry Day promoted by the WMU of VA.  The children had gotten pledges for rubber band jump rope-a thon and basketball hoop-a-thon to raise money to purchase a goat ($100), a pig ($75), or chickens ($1.00), each for the Ricks Institute in Liberia.  The children at the Institute will learn to care for the animals purchased and use the products of the donated animals.  The children have raised $316.00 to date, with hopefully more to come.  They were excited when the teen leader suggested they had enough to purchase a goat, 2 pigs and at least 66 chickens. 

The children had fun jumping ropes which they made with rubber bands-interesting to see their expertise- and of course they all loved to throw basketballs into the hoops.  Smaller hoops were provided for the smaller children.  It was also interesting to see some of the adults jumping rope.  One adult jumped 5 times and rested, etc.  The children had each brought canned food to donate to COPPC.  Some of the children and the Ladies on mission had made fleece baby blankets to donate for the layettes at COPPC.  After a time of fun, the children were served tacos with all the trimming and their favorite cookies.   They are looking forward to Children’s Ministry Day next year.

Mechanicsville Baptist Church
Mechanicsville, Virginia

The Mechanicsville Baptist Church Mission Friends combined "Hope for the Hungry" and WMU Focus Sunday on February 10 by collecting McDonalds gift cards and making valentines for some needy children in the Petersburg area.

Attached is a picture of Mason Burrows wearing his "Hope for the Hungry" t-shirt he decorated and holding some valentines. When he marched into the sanctuary and recited the memory scripture, nine of our Mission Friends were out sick. They had all decorated t-shirts with the "Hope for the Hungry" theme.

Mt. Olivet Baptist Church
Bedford, Virginia

On Saturday, the GA's of Mt. Olivet Southern Baptist Church, 2933 Mt. Olivet Road, Bedford, VA (Strawberry Association) participated in Children's Ministry Day.

Our GA's held a Backyard Bible Club with the theme of the Good News Stampede.  It was a western theme similar to the Vacation Bible School of several years ago.

We went to a local housing development and held our "Good News Stampede" in their Community Center.  Our pastor David Burgess joined us for the opening devotions.  Our girls presented a skit, we had face painting, a coloring contest, balloon races, a puppet show, special music, balloons were given to all participants, and we ended with lunch.

Christy Delong, our GA Leader was in charge of the day, and did a wonderful job.  Participation was light we think mainly because of the early time we chose (9:00 to noon), but everyone had a great time. 

New Bethesda Baptist Church
Mechanicsville, Virginia

The Children at New Bethesda Baptist Church ministered to the homeless during the first annual Children's Ministry Day on Saturday, February 16, 2008. The theme for this year's project came from Isaiah 58:10 (NirV), "Work hard to feed hungry people."

The children's K-5 Sunday school class, their parents, and their leader, chose to support the ministry of "Grace Fellowship" of Richmond, VA. "Grace Fellowship's" purpose is to provide Christian fellowship, bible study, prayer, a hot meal, and other services to the homeless of the Richmond area.

The first step in the mission project was to enlist the help of adults in the church. The children asked the church to donate sleeping bags, backpacks, blankets, caps, gloves, socks, and small snack items. These items were collected over a three-week time period.

On Saturday, February 16th, the children gathered together to make goody bags that were made up from the snack items that were donated.

North Run Baptist Church
Richmond, Virginia

Children of North Run Baptist Church, Richmond, VA collected baby food for the Central Virginia Food Bank on Feb. 16, 2008, the first annual national Children's Ministry Day.

Sixteen children and six RA and GA leaders asked shopped outside two supermarkets to add baby food to their shopping lists and place them in our collection box. Besides 1, 063 items, which totaled 426 pounds, $201.24 in cash donations was received.

This was a terrific experience for our boys and girls, especially when shoppers told them how much they appreciated their efforts!

Northwest Baptist Church
Chesapeake, Virginia

Our Children in Action Group decided they wanted to feed those who live at the Victory Home and work in the Victory Home Thrift Store in Chesapeake, Virginia. Victory Home is a 6-12 month, Christ-centered, in-house addiction-recovery program and is an outreach ministry of Geneva Park Baptist Church. Victory Home does not charge a fee; however, residents are given work assignments to defray the cost of their treatment. Our children were able to prepare 51 sandwiches and two pots of hot vegetable beef soup, craft favors that signed “God loves you” John 3:16 and personal care packets. Our boys and girls served the Victory Home residents who were working in the warehouse and also those who were working at the Thrift Store. The children had a great time! The residents received a blessings because the children took time out of their day to think of them.

Orcutt Baptist Church
Newport News, Virginia

The Children in Action of Orcutt Baptist Church in Newport News led the entire church in collecting toilety items for a homeless ministry in which several city churches collaborate. On Saturday, February 16th the children and their leaders gathered at church and packed over 125 bags loaded with soap, a washcloth, toothpaste and a toothbrush to hand out to the homeless at the shelter. After we packed the bags, the children already knew that they would be having lunch but did not know what was on the menu or where we would eat lunch. The leaders talked to the children about where the homeless would be having their lunch that day. The children responded resoundingley that they would probably be searching garbage cans and dumpters. At that point the leaders brought out a trash bag and the children very excitedly thought they
would pretend to dig in the trash bags for their lunches much like a treasure hunt. To their dismay, when they opened the bag, it WAS trash. Everyone resounded with a loud OOOOH". It really made the children think as they went on to enjoy a nice lunch at a local fast food restaurant. On Sunday, the 17th we presented a skit to the church about out project and thanked them for helping us to gather so many toiletry items. We went to the shelter on Monday evening, February 18th and personally handed out the bags. The people were very appreciative to the children.

Orange Baptist Church
Orange, Virginia

The children at Orange Baptist Church had a great day on Saturday, February 16th, when they had a "Jump for Hope" to raise money for the Ricks Institute in war-torn Liberia.

They had a puppet show, Hope for the Hungry, at Sunday service to kick start the congregation to pledge money for the mission. Children up to 5th grade got together for 2 hours of jumping rope or just jumping.

The donations came to a whopping $550.!!! This will help buy goats, pigs or chickens. The goal is to teach the children to grow and sell them and help their familes to earn a living.

Sandston Baptist Church
Sandston, Virginia

Sandston Baptist Church Children's Ministry Day was great fun. Here are pictures of our kids making "Birthday Bash Bags" for Oregon Hill Baptist Center in Richmond. The bags contained the makings for a meal and a birthday party complete with cake mix and decorations, plates, napkins, and other party favors. They decorated the bags with birthday messages. We had birthday cake and ice cream for refreshments and sang "Happy birthday, God bless you" before delivering the bags to the center where the kids got to meet Jennifer Turner and see the center.

This was a really great addition to our Focus Sunday activities the next day.

 

WMUV salutes all of the children and leaders that participated in activities on Children's Ministry Day and throughout the year!! Make plans for next year now. Children's Ministry Day 2009 will be held on February 14, 2009. The theme will be Loving Hearts. The website is www.childrensmissions.com