Beth Pool
Christian Education Director
First Presbyterian Church
Eaton, Ohio
Families have enjoyed Wednesday Night LOGOS since 2002 at small town First Presbyterian Church in Eaton, Ohio. Generations of families have spent Wednesday nights participating in the four parts of LOGOS: 1) playing games at recreation 2) learning about God and His plan for their lives at Bible Stories & Study 3) planning and practicing worship activities in Worship Skills/Arts class 4) most importantly, shared LOGOS meals filled with good food, lots of fun, games, and limitless fellowship linking generations within our church family. Since about 2012, the month of October has focused on helping feed families in our community.
The first Wednesday in October, LOGOS meets at a backpack ministry that provides after-school and weekend meal supplements for children in our county. After having classes and recreation on the beautiful playground conveniently located outside the site, we share a picnic style meal of items that are packed for the backpack program: a cereal box, pudding cup, applesauce, juice bag, PB&J sandwich, and crackers. We then spend our last hour together helping the Jacob’s Ladder ministry pack 1,000 bags to be given out to students “in need” throughout the county.
The next two October LOGOS sessions focus on a LOGOS kid favorite, “Trick-or-Treat So Others Can Eat.” During Week 2, bags prepared with directions are distributed by the 4th & 5th grade recreation class to chosen neighborhoods. The directions ask the residents to fill the bag with non-perishables, and FPC LOGOS kids will return the following week to collect and share with hungry families in our community. Then Week 3, all our LOGOS kids come in “not too scary” costumes and go out with their adult leaders to collect the filled bags in the hour before dinner. The kids love it, the food bank loves it, and the community now expects to receive bags each year and is so generous (plus they love to see the kids).
The fourth and last week of October, we have a LOGOS “Can”ival Carnival. We use this as a fun night where we host a carnival with all the favorite carnival games like a fishing booth, ping pong in the fish bowl game, scare crow throw, face painting, musical chairs, etc. Kids bring in canned goods or quarters for tickets. One canned good equals two tickets, and one quarter equals one ticket. Each child automatically gets 10 tickets. The teens and LOGOS teachers run the games. Kids play games for an hour, eat a concession style dinner, then watch a kid friendly Halloween movie while teens and adults clean up the games! A great way to end our mission-filled month.
All money collected goes to Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF, and all non-perishables from the “Can”ival and Trick-or-Treat So Others Can Eat goes to local food pantry, our church blessing box and Jacob’s Ladders’ Family Thanksgiving Boxes. This year, more than 700 cans were collected and $69 for UNICEF. These activities are among the favorite LOGOS nights every year! Our food bank loves October and all the treats our LOGOS group donates because of these fun, mission-driven activities!
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