Two months out
Youth say ‘Yes We Can’—and succeed V
olunteerism boot camp. That’s what Lent became last year for the young- sters at tiny Living Word Lutheran
Church, Laurinburg, N.C., when they resolved to help feed hungry neighbors. Living Word is the only ELCA congre-
gation in Scotland County—the poorest of 100 counties in the fifth hungriest state in the U.S. The congregation’s children have always
done their part (see “Good one!” on this page) to help with local social service partners, but the youth group (ages 6 to 13) wanted to do more. They came up with the “Yes We Can” campaign, asking members to donate 200 cans of soup—about one can each week from the 40 worshipers. They also placed a tin can in the narthex for spare change, along with two water bottles (the perfect size, it turns out, for dimes). They even built paper boxes for members to take home to fill with change. Then they studied hunger, learning facts such as 1 in 5
children in the world goes to bed hungry. They made posters illustrating the immensity of the problem and shared what they were learning with the congregation, along with prog- ress on the soup drive. Meanwhile, the adults responded to both the local need
and the young people’s passion. They brought soup cans and change to church. A homebound member sent another parishioner to the bank to change her penny stash into dimes. Another surprised the checkout clerk at a store by asking, “Can I have all my change in dimes?” Oth- ers searched under the cushions and in their cars’ cup holders for all the spare change they could scrape up. From the narthex contributions they counted $335
(mostly dimes) and 271 cans of soup. The 11 kids broke into three shopping groups on Good Friday, dividing the money and going in search of the best prices on macaroni and cheese, peanut butter and jelly, tuna or Spam, rice, canned vegetables and fruit, spaghetti and sauce, and beef stew. All are included in the 10-item family bags the food bank hands out every week—526 items. They packaged 24 family food bags for Church Community Services to distribute. And, like the loaves
Send congregational stories—those for a specifi c month/holiday or your best timeless idea—to
julie.sevig@
thelutheran.org.
42
www.thelutheran.org
and fishes, four large bags of assorted food were left over. The crammed pickup truck arrived at the food bank on Easter Monday, just days after the bank had put a “No food” sign on its door because it had run out. The experience concluded with a “hunger banquet” in
For more information, contact
nwbarrineau@gmail.com.
which participants drew lots for what they’d be served: water and rice, beans and rice, or beef. “Not fair!” some of them shouted. And their Sunday school teacher/leader Cheryle Currie agreed: “Well, that said it all; it wasn’t fair.”
By Nancy W. Barrineau, a retired college professor who lives in Laurinburg, N.C.
Good one! In a pickle
T
he children of Living Word Lutheran Church, Laurinburg, N.C., from the time they can toddle have deposited their own offering in a large Mt. Olive Pickle jar during worship. It’s for “people in a pickle,” they proudly tell visitors. The director of Church Community Services, an ecumenical social ministry, knows that when funds are low she can call on the pickle jar to assist a family passing through town in need of a tank of gas or a place to stay.
©ISTOCK/TARASOV_VL ©ISTOCK/NODEROG
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