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Service Projects |
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Service Projects For ideas of service and ways to encourage participation in service projects, read the following:
-Create a “service” bulletin board and post pictures of people being engaged in ‘service’ either in the church or in the community.
-Encourage Sunday School classes or other small groups to create cards with a picture and verse or greeting on the front with a horizontal format. Provide a sufficient number of cards for “Meal on Wheels” or similar setting to place on each meal tray. An excellent cold weather project and a real day brightener for the recipients.
-Combine service with fun! Have a group ‘trick or treat’ for the local food pantry!
-Service Road Rally-Holy Trinity, North Canton youth were teamed with an adult driver, given a church directory and an instruction sheet to complete within 90 minutes. Points were given for completed activities and collected canned food. Points were deducted for "tardiness". For a sample instruction sheet contact the resource center.
-Middle school students often need guidance in the summer for expending constructive energy. Have them adopt an intersection or other litter prone area of the neighborhood to keep clean. Leading games one half day of a week at a neighborhood play area, or sweeping walks are just a few of the tasks they can undertake on a regular basis for the summer.
In the winter after a snow fall, have families or youth groups visit area assisted living homes and request permission to build a snow man or snow family in view of the common area of the home.
Kountze Memorial, Louisville encourages their youth to ride with a “Meals on Wheels” driver on school vacation days. What a day brightener for the recipient of those meals! Look at your school calendars! Talk to your local social service representatives! Brainstorm the possibilities!
Projects or training for future service projects can be completed during the Christmas break enjoyed by many students. For example, build picnic benches for service or fund-raising and at the same time hone carpentry skills for that spring/summer building service project.
Outreach and Service Opportunities
-Community parades, festivals, etc. provide a variety of ways for a congregation to reach out into their community. St. Luke, Mansfield provides a ‘float’ for the annual Miss Ohio parade. Wayne County Lutheran congregations provide a place to sit down as well as water to drink at the county fair. Is your church along the parade route? Provide a shady spot or chairs for waiting on-lookers. Not on the parade route! Have members wear “church” T-shirts or hats and pass out handy wipes for sticky fingers or sweaty brows. Pleasant weather brings people outdoors! There are a variety of ways your congregation can go outdoors to connect with people! Try at least one new way this year.
-A majority of school systems will have an "in-service day" in February which means "no school". Reach out to the community by providing a "culture camp" or "arts camp" that day for children. Use individuals from the community as resource people and college or high school students as assistants for activities.
Collecting
Give young people the opportunity to gather items over the summer for ‘back-to-school’ packs, homeless shelters [crayons, pencils, paper, books, games], food pantries, etc. It may be as simple as toothbrushes or combs for the school nurse to pass on as needed. Have these items be their offering for day-camp, Vacation Church School, Sunday School, their ‘admission’ for summer activities. Gather items in a basket, cart or box to present at the end of the week or summer to the appropriate agency. Include several children in the presentation.
Emmanuel, New Philadelphia encourages travelers to donate extra small containers of shampoo & lotions, etc for inclusion in gift baskets to the shut-ins. [Homeless or domestic violence shelters are also appropriate recipients.]
Good Shepherd Brooklyn encourages the giving of food items with quarterly lists of an item (ie. baby food, flour, etc.) and a goal (X number of bags, cans, etc.). Then they provide monthly and quarterly reports to encourage participation.
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