Thousandsticks UMC held their Vacation Bible School August 15-17 with the assistance of a Youth Team and Adults from Heaven Bound Church in Pennsylvania. They have come the last 5 years, with the exception of 2020 because of Covid. This year's VBS took place less than 2 weeks after the catastrophic flooding that impacted our region. VBS & Youth Director, Shirley Amundsen, felt led to connect the children attending VBS with the impact the flooding had on the community. She helped lead them in roles to help with the recovery.
Each night, the children were asked to bring any pennies they had for the two different offerings that were taken. One offering was "Pennies for Missions" which began a number of years ago. The "Pennies for Missions" offering is traditionally divided between the local nursing home and our Kids for Christ ministry, but this year the Janice Sizemore Scholarship will be receiving the Kids of Christ portion. Janice Sizemore was a long-time Mission Class teacher who passed away in November of 2021 and those offerings proudly raised $75 from the children just in their pennies. This donation was more than matched by a family in the community whose loved one started the "Pennies for Mission" ministry in VBS. Their generous donation of $298 raised a total of $373 for the scholarship.
The other offering the children gave towards each night supported the flood relief and recovery that was going on in the community. Each year that nightly offering is given to a different ministry, and this year, in just 3 nights, the children and their families brought in almost $300 for the flood relief efforts. This really showed us how good God is and how the Holy Spirit led the hearts of the kids and their families to make a difference for their neighbors who were affected by the flooding.