Here is an idea your church might use for a neighborhood outreach! Since 2015, Bethany Columbia Church has sponsored an Easter Egg Hunt for their community at different locations. This year the event was held at Jeffers Hill Elementary School on April 9, and children from both Jeffers Hill and Talbott Spring Elementary Schools were invited, with 270 children registered for the event.
Two egg hunts, scheduled about an hour and a half apart (to restock the field with eggs), with two separate groups of 130+ kids charging down a hill to a field filled with 2,500 eggs, is a sight to behold!
The MMBA Block Party Trailer was booked for the event, and the popcorn machine, snow cone machine, bounce house, and outdoor “carnival” games we’re all put to good use along with other games supplied by the church.
Sabrina Grudzinski, the Church’s Children’s Director, organized the event, coordinated with the schools, and enlisted volunteers to fill 5,000 plastic Easter eggs and to man all the stations at the event.
Pastor CJ Matthews said the church has a great relationship with the principals of the schools, and for the first time, the two schools sent flyers home with their 900 students advertising the event. That was one reason the event grew from about 100 in previous years, to this year’s 270.
All children who registered and participated received a bag to hold their eggs and flyers about Bethany’s Children’s Ministry. The registration information was used to invite families to the Church’s Easter Sunday Worship.
The church is planning to have a Spring and Fall event each year for these schools.