[ back ]
Children scoop up Rhema's 6,000 eggs
(by K. Darius Amos - March 27, 2008)
6,000 eggs, 10 minutes: no problem
It took volunteers several hours to sprinkle Easter eggs on the football field at Hackensack High School last Saturday. The task took all morning, as the plastic eggs, more than 6,000 of them, completely covered the eastern half of the field.
|
Photo/K. Darius Amos
Let the mayhem begin! Children rushed the Hackensack High School football field last Saturday hoping to collect as many Easter eggs as possible.
|
“With the weather holding up, we should get around 1,000 kids,” said Jennifer Johnson prior to the massive egg hunt. Johnson was one of the volunteers and a member of the Rhema Worship Center, which was hosting its first annual Egg-Stravaganza at the high school.
Johnson and her fellow event organizers even reserved a large chunk of time for the egg hunting portion of the event; two hours should’ve been enough for the neighborhood children to scoop each and every egg.
What the parents found out was that their kids have already mastered that art of grabbing Easter eggs, and the noon to two o’clock block was much more time than needed – the big yard was cleared of the eggs in less than 10 minutes.
“I can’t believe how fast they are,” Eric Brewer, a pastor at the Rhema Worship Center, said while clearing the field of cracked and emptied eggs. “These kids are professionals.”
If Easter egg picking was a profession, the children at Rhema’s event might look into it. But the Egg-Stravaganza, however, wasn’t a job fair – though several sponsors were on hand distributing information and products. The pro-gram was an opportunity for the ministry to reach out to the residents of Hackensack and surrounding towns.
“The community wants an overall feeling of family,” said William Lockwood, the youth minister at Rhema. “Here, the church and the city and give back and create that feeling for everyone.”
“It’s so exciting when you give back to the community.”
The program, which was free for all residents, was the brainchild of Brewer and Lockwood. Wanting to do something for all Hackensack and Rhema members, they thought of the town- and church-wide egg hunt. With the idea, Brewer employed the minds of the center’s members.
“See what you can do,” Johnson said Brewer had asked.
According to Johnson, who works in the disciplinary office at Hackensack High School, the event was originally slated for centrally located Foschini Park but unpredictable weather and scheduling conflicts ruled out Hackensack’s flagship recreation spot.
“That’s when I spoke to [Mark] Porto,” said Johnson, referring to Hackensack High School’s principal. “We checked with the school district and the recreation department, and that’s when he said we can hold the event at the school.”
For Lockwood, seeing the various organizations and volunteers work together for the children was the most ex-citing part of the day. Even though the children happily devoured the candy inside the eggs, and two lucky kids even found the jackpot items – a $250 cash prize and a Target gift card – Lockwood’s excitement was over harmony.
“Everyone, the church, the city, the schools, joined together to make this possible. It’s just an awesome thing to be a part of.”
[ back ]
