Isabelle Fish(right) from Aberdeen North Highland UMC youth encourages a youngster during his first egg-dyeing experience. Photo courtesy of Aberdeen North Highland UMC.

Over 800 children and adults hunted for Easter Eggs and connected with Aberdeen North Highland UMC during the Easter Extravaganza.

It all started last October as North Highland UMC in Aberdeen, South Dakota was in the midst of collecting coats for the annual giveaway, Coats for Kids. The Missions Committee contacted some locally-owned business to explore partnership. The proprietor of a bakery and coffee shop came up with the idea of giving a percentage of all of the October sales to the Coats for Kids project, and in turn their establishment was named a sponsor in all of the event promotion. Several pairs of snow pants were purchased and given away, thanks to the money from CJ’s Patisserie.

Fast forward to March, when the bakery owner contacted North Highland inquiring about partnering with them for an Easter Egg Extravaganza. “Of course we said yes,” said Pastor Lou Whitmer.

Youth and adults filled 1,000 of the 3,000 eggs for the Palm Sunday event. “We were thankful North Highland received good coverage in the newspaper and around town, during the promotion,” said Whitmer. “On Palm Sunday youth and adults, most wearing church logo tee shirts, helped with games, egg dyeing and the egg hunt. There was opportunity for a good deal of one-on-one connection in the midst of the exciting afternoon which included over 800 children and accompanying adults.”

The week prior, North Highland UMC held a Family Easter Festival for children and families of the church, and encouraged them to invite their friends. “While we were thrilled at the invitation to partner with a community event, we also felt we needed to provide a focus on the deeper message of Easter in language and concept easily accessible to the younger children,” said Pastor Lou. “The youth group took part in that experience as helpers, also, yet it was clear they were learning alongside the children.”

Since both experiences were so well-received, the hope is to expand both the event at the church and the presence at the community extravaganza next spring.