2005 Year in Review

Vacation Bible School Draws Record Numbers

Tyler Tichler gives Hawk a hug.

by: Tonia Ernst

Good News Clues- Looking For Life in Jesus was the theme this year for the community wide vacation bible school. Once again, we were able to hold bible school in the air-conditioned rooms of Northside School. Last year's attendance topped out at 187 children, which had beat all other previous years. The music director, Tonia Ernst, challenged the children to get 200 kids at this year's event. After entering all the on-site registration forms Monday night, Lisa Rinker, VBS committee member, announced we had exactly 200 children attending VBS on the first night. The committee members were thrilled. That number continued to grow every night, until we reached an all time high attendance of 210.

Every night the children would start in the gym where Tonia Ernst would lead the children in singing several songs including a song, which Nancy Poling taught everyone the sign language.

This year's curriculum was designed to teach the children a different bible story based around five different rooms of a house. The kids were separated into groups according to the grade they will be entering this fall. Each grade visited a different room each night, for a total of five in all. In the garden room the story was of Adam and Eve sinning. The dining room's story was based on the bible verses describing Jesus' death and resurrection. The story of the Prodigal Son was told in the family room. In the kitchen, the parables of the mustard seed and yeast were told in order to teach the children about faith. The living room told another parable of hidden treasure. Connections were made between the bible stories and our lives today. The garden room taught us we need to be forgiven. The dining room's story let the children know we all can be saved from our sin. Through the story told in the family room the children learned that we all can be welcomed into God's family. By telling the parables of the mustard seed and yeast, the kitchen taught the children that we all can grow in Jesus. The hidden treasure parable taught the children we can live with Jesus forever. At the close of every evening, the children would gather back in the gym for more singing and a closing prayer.

Every year the VBS committee chooses a mission project in which the children can bring donations for every night. This year's mission project was the K-9 Rescue Operations based in Clinton, Iowa. Bill and Lois Hall run the non-for-profit organization. They train dogs to perform search and rescue missions. The dogs are trained and certified in several areas of rescue, including Air Scent, Evidence Search, Human Remains Detection, Missing Persons Search (children and elderly), Building Searches, Suicide Calls, Hostage Stand-offs and many more. The work the dogs do can be extremely dangerous. There are specialized vests the organization has purchased for the dogs to wear during different operations. Each dog has a bright red vest with reflector markings on it that is worn while they search for lost children, elderly, or while doing other jobs. However, a bullet-proof vest is needed to protect the dogs while working with the sheriff's department on various operations. Trax, a seven year old German Shepard, and one of the founding team members, already owns one such vest. Hawk, Hall's two-year-old German Shepard is in need of this vest. Having such a vest would allow Hawk to be involved in more dangerous, but important jobs through the Clinton County Sheriff's Dept.

Tonia Ernst talked about the dogs and what they do every night at the opening and closing of VBS. She told the children she would let someone throw a pie in her face during the closing ceremony if VBS was able to raise $1000 for Hawk's vest. The children rose to the challenge. Some children did extra chores for their parents in order to raise money, some raided their piggy banks, and still others held a lemonade stand to help reach the $1000 goal. Thursday night the K-9 Rescue group brought several of their dogs to share with the children. The trainers were outstanding with the kids, allowing every single child to pet their dogs. They gave each class a demonstration of how the dogs work when they are needed by the sheriff's department. It was a very exciting part of our week. Bill and Lois, the founders of the K-9 organization were so moved by the children's willingness to help, they offered to come back on Friday for the closing ceremony. Nobody knew at that time just how much money would be raised for the vest. Mr. Hall even volunteered to let someone throw a pie in his face too!

Friday night's closing ceremony was held for the first time outside. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbors, and friends gathered at the new Veteran's Memorial Park Pavilion. The weather was spectacular. The children sang the theme song, as well as two other songs. The evening ended with the children doing the sign language for "Coming Back To You". It was very moving to see over 200 children so intently signing the final song.

The highlight of the night came when several committee members came forward to announce the final total that had been collected for Hawk and his trainers. Between the children's dedicated efforts and the generosity of the crowd at the closing, this year's VBS raised $1510.04! Tonia Ernst hadn't been told the final amount. The committee members wanted her to "sweat it out" for a while wondering if she would, in fact, get a pie in her face. Her and Bill Hall took their places in front of the children while Heather Bush and Lisa Rinker filled the pie plates with whipped creme. The children did the famous count down, and the two women did the honors of throwing the pies in Tonia and Bill's faces. Everyone cheered and Hawk, the rescue dog, got to lick off the whip creme.

Mr. Hall spoke afterwards, saying he was so touched by the kindness of the people of Morrison. Unbeknownst to everyone, the vest the children were raising money for costs exactly $1500. When Bill Hall made that announcement, everyone felt a sense of pride and accomplishment. He said Hawk was like a child to him. The vest will now help keep him safe. The final surprise of the evening came when Mr. Hall told the crowds that the people making the vest have agreed to hand embroider Morrison Vacation Bible School on the outside so Hawk will always know who made it possible for him to have the vest.

The committee would like to thank the community for their generous support through prayer, donations of goods, and monetary gifts. The following businesses need special recognition: Dairy Queen for donating Dilly Bars for every child and volunteer as well as cups and napkins, True Value for displaying our VBS sign, Spahn & Rose for giving us grocery bags and paint, Custom Sportsware - Rob and Cathleen Vegter for discounted prices on the T-shirts, HyVee in Clinton for donating 200 grocery bags, Jewel in Clinton for grocery bags, Shawver Press for an end roll of newsprint. The following businesses donated cups for drinking water every night: Happy Joe's, Subway, Sullivan's, Hardee's, Dairy Queen, and Culver's in Clinton. Boss Office donated 50 C.D.s, gave us discounted prices on supplies, and purchased ID kits for the police department to distribute to children in Morrison. Officer Gomez provided VBS with over 200 ID kits. G.E. provided ice every night for our drinking water. Thank-you to R.C. Smith, Sullivan's, and Workman's for displaying our information on their signs. A special thank-you to Dr. Ware, the school board, and Mr. Wroble for allowing the children of Morrison and the surrounding towns to use the school as a place to learn about Jesus. The committee would also like to recognize all the volunteers for their hours of hard work prior to and during the week of vacation bible school. A final thank-you goes out to all the parents, grandparents, and guardians that brought their precious children to us.

Anyone interested in serving on the VBS committee can come to our wrap-up meeting on Monday, August 8 at 6:30 p.m. held at Ebenezer Church or you may contact Tonia Ernst at 772-2816. For pictures of Vacation Bible School 2005 see Photo Album

by Dawn Zuidema, theCity1.com
August 4, 2005