On October 25th the Exit31 Middle School will be doing another BIG service project. We did this last year and we realized that it was very important to our students to help our community. They loved serving with "Manna on Main Street" and they are excited to do it again this year.
This is the letter I wrote up after the service project was finished to update everyone on what happened.
The Exit31 Middle School ministry recently partnered with “Manna on Main” which is a local outreach organization that exists to provide food for the hungry. One specific thing Manna does is provide snacks everyday for over 200 students that come to an after school program. On Tuesday November 30th we gathered our BranchCreek Middle School students together to bag trail mix in zip lock bags so that these underprivileged students will have something to eat after school.
It was nothing less than amazing to see how excited the students were to make bags of trail mix. During our recap at the end of the night I asked multiple students to share what they learned. They responded with simple yet profound answers like “Just because I’m a kid doesn’t mean that I can’t make a difference” and “I wanted to help because I think it’s unfair”.
Our heartbeat is to see life change in our community so we should celebrate the way that God uses us in that process. I put together some numbers to give you an idea of how God used the Middle School ministry this past Tuesday.
30 = adults who volunteered their time and resources
48 = middle school students who participated
128 = boxes of cereals, pretzels, goldfish, animal crackers, and raisins (2868 oz)
431 = letters mailed out by students to raise additional funds for “Manna on Main”
842 = amount of bags assembled
3,000 = amount of money that has come in so far (More is coming in)
I also sent out an evaluation survey to the parents and here are some of those numbers
91% thought that communication for this event was excellent (info, vision, volunteer opportunity)
64% felt like there was a high level of excitement in their homes for this event
80% felt like this event had a positive influence in the spiritual formation of their student
The event was successful on multiple levels. Our overall goal for the future is to continue to develop our relationship with Manna and the people there so that God can use us to show them they are loved.
I'm so excited for this year's "Mix Bowl" and the possibility of helping in bigger ways than last year. One of the added values for this year is that we have another group of students joining us. The Middle School from Keystone Fellowship Church of Montgomeryville will be partnering with us to try and double the amount of bags we made last year! That means our goal is to make over 1600 bags of trail mix! That's so much trail mix that "Manna on Main Street" wouldn't have to use any work hours on this project for two entire weeks. We would be able to provide trail mix to over 200 students a day for two weeks. That releases them to help in so many other areas that could use their help.
I am asking for the same love and support you showed us last year! The community of BranchCreek and surrounding areas really helped make last years event so special. This is so important because this year we have decided to ask for donations of trail mix ingredients so that Manna on Main Street doesn't have to use any of their food for this project. We really want to focus on one goal this year and that would be making 1600 bags of trail mix! I will be sending out more info soon so please keep us in your prayers as we prepare for God to do some more amazing work in the community through our students and Manna on Main Street.
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