Children at St. Paul's "Go Do"!

By Christine Ingram

The Pre-EYC group at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church has taken Bishop Curry’s call to “Go Deep, Go Speak, Go Do” to heart.  In fact, this energetic group of fourth and fifth graders has been answering the call for outreach for two years! Their outreach portfolio is quite diverse and impressive for such a young ministry.

St. Paul’s Pre-EYC started in 2009 with just a few children and volunteer leadership, but over the years the group has grown to an average of 24 children in attendance under the leadership of a member of the church staff. The group meets twice a month on Sundays, during which time they share a parent-provided meal and alternate their meeting focus among outreach, learning and just pure fun. They meet right after Sunday School, providing the opportunity for them to make a direct correlation between that week’s Sunday School lesson and that week’s outreach project. The group also has consistent leadership - both parent volunteers and church staff - which has been a key to its success. The children appreciate seeing the same adults each meeting, forming relationships and having a consistent set of behavior expectations.

While it might seem the biggest difficulties would be finding time or interest from the children, the hardest part has been finding outreach organizations that will take a chance with such young volunteers. In the first year of volunteering, it was tough to find places that wanted to allow this age group to help. Now, in the second year, the children’s reputation has spread a little, and it is much easier to find places where they can contribute.

The church's interest in outreach for this age group was threefold. First, fourth and fifth graders tend not to interact with their opposing gender, so the leaders have found that with project work, they can “trick” the children into working with everyone by giving them the commonality of project work. There is nothing like bonding over picking up trash or learning to make beds from the ground up. Secondly, St. Paul’s recently completed a visioning exercise during which the congregation gave an overwhelming call for more hands-on outreach that would be open for everyone, including the children. Finally, the church hopes that if they teach children to love to help others at an early age, they will keep this love and devote their lives to making service a priority.

The seeds of outreach are already being planted. Anna-Kathryn Bowersox, a Pre-EYC participant, said her favorite part of Pre-EYC is the “outreach because it helps a lot of people and it is fun to do.”

The Pre-EYC outreach projects have included many types of activities to fulfill the desire to expose the children to many different types of volunteering. To help our neighbors, the children walked to a local retirement community and delivered Valentine’s Day cards they made, as well as flowers and candy. At Halloween the children visited this same group and distributed Halloween candy - while dressed in full costumes! The children really enjoyed the smiles they received from the residents and the facility’s staff as they reverse trick-or-treated. Pre-EYCer Maggie Bowersox said her favorite activity was the “reverse trick-or-treating because [she] likes to help people less fortunate.”

Nursing home residents are not the only group the Pre-EYC children have helped, however. To help their church community, they made crafts to be sold at the outreach bazaar, cleaned up the playground and hosted a coffee hour, including bringing the snacks, setting up and cleaning up. To help their local community, the children have volunteered at the Food Bank and made cards and cookies for police and fire professionals. To help the homeless, they have participated in a set up for Wake Interfaith Hospitality Network (WIHN), created Lunches to Go for the Raleigh Rescue Mission and helped at PLM Families Together. The children also did some things just for fun, such as participating in the ASPCA Dog Walk, making a card quilt and giggle boxes for children at the Ronald McDonald House and writing thank you letters to war veterans.

Pre-EYCer Elizabeth Ingram said that her favorite outreach activity was helping at PLM Families Together because “it was very hands on and it was fun to do so much helping!”

“I think outreach is important because we are helping people in need, and people who can't do things themselves," Pre-EYCer Timothy Pouring said. "I learned that [the Food Bank] stores rice in 1,000 lb bags. You use scoops and put the rice in 4 lb bags.  People who go to the Food Bank have no idea when or where their next meal will be, or what it will be. We always have an idea, for instance, we know we might have leftover chicken for dinner. They have no idea.“ 

In addition to engaging in a wide array of volunteer opportunities, this group also wants to spread their love of outreach to all the children at St. Paul’s. Each year Pre-EYC selects a charity to be the beneficiary of the Sunday Children’s stewardship collection. All the children are invited to come forward during the Sunday services to place money in the children’s basket. As the money accumulates, the amount collected is reported and reminders are sent to the families about where the money is going. This year’s recipient, WIHN, will receive at least $1500.00 when the children finish collecting money at the end of May. The children really enjoy walking up to their collection basket with their contributions, and the congregation loves to watch it’s youngest parishioners as they begin their stewardship journey.

As this group continues to grow and develop their ministry, the children hope to continue to broaden their service horizons. They are looking for even more opportunities to provide service, including helping the environment and maybe even some fundraising for a group that the children will select. Regardless, St. Paul’s is committed to starting the love of outreach in their children in the hopes that they will continue to “Go Do” throughout their lives.

Tips for Convincing Outreach Organizations to Work with Young Volunteers

Set clear behavior expectations with the children about outreach and off-site activities. Remind your older children to lead by example.

Ask your children what types of outreach they want to try. The more they are bought into the experience, the more successful it will be!

Make sure there is enough work on site to keep everyone busy. Idle time can lead to boredom and behavior issues.

Recruit parents/adults who are passionate about outreach to help with your group or talk to the kids about the importance of outreach and how their volunteerism makes a difference.

Test the waters and start with something easy, on-site at your church. Get the kids used to the idea of working on projects for others. Make cards, create lunch bags or do something for a ministry in your church. Once you have a positive outreach experience, you can use that to “market” your group to outreach organizations.

Consult a food bank or city/state park. They have experience working with younger youth and may be willing to stretch their age limits.

Look for family outreach opportunities, such as rescue missions. If they welcome family volunteers, they will probably be happy to work with younger youth.