PITTSBORO — On a Tuesday morning this past June, the second day of Pittsboro Baptist Church’s vacation Bible school, participating children walked down the aisle to the front of the sanctuary to give their gift.
Some carried plastic bags filled with quarters, nickels and dimes. Others carried all the coins their palms could hold, while others had folded bills or even a Lowe’s gift card handed to them by their parents. The boys emptied their money in the large water bottle on the left and the girls placed their coins in the bottle on the right.
The day before, the children had learned that they could show Jesus’ love by giving to others. During their mission class, they learned about Chatham Habitat for Humanity, an organization that helps people without homes build houses. They also learned that it takes a lot of money to build a house, but every penny would be a help.
Help, the children did: their quarters, dimes, and nickels added up to $1,007.
“I was surprised by the amount,” said PBC Children’s Minister Jennifer Cashion, “but then again I wasn’t. Every year, our VBS children and their parents give generously to our mission projects.”
Last year, the church’s VBS program was held virtually due to COVID.
“This year, we intentionally limited our registration numbers, again due to COVID,” Cashion said. “We usually have 175-200 kids filling our sanctuary, but this year we had 138 kids registered. My expectations for the missions donations were lowered because it has been such a challenging year, but the children, as they usually do, exceeded all expectations.”
According to Cashion, the annual mission projects usually reflect the VBS theme, which for this year was “Concrete and Cranes.”
“We focused our week on building on Jesus’ love as the foundation of our lives,” she said. “Habitat for Humanity fit perfectly into that theme.”
In addition, to Habitat for Humanity, the VBS participants also made donations of work gloves to Baptist on Mission Disaster Recovery and food items to CORA.
Pittsboro Baptist Church is located at 121 West Salisbury St.