FISH for Food!

Sunday was the first FISH event held at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church (ORLC). FISH stands for Faith Integrity Service and Honor. It is a gathering of several youth from several churches. Since the youth group numbers are smaller and more people makes for more fun we get together and do things with youth from Palmer, Wasilla, Anchorage, Chugiak and occasionally Homer and Fairbanks.  


FISH rotates its location from church to church and when it is hosted by a congregation that DCE is in charge of planning the event. It happened that this month was held at ORLC which meant I got to plan the event. FISH events can be anything from fun and games to intense Bible study to service projects. 


My idea for the FISH event was grounded in the need of ORLC's very own food pantry. The food pantry here at ORLC serves over 450 people which is quite significant and a great opportunity for outreach in the community. With this in mind the FISH event consisted of a Shopping Scavenger Hunt. A list of items that are needed on a weekly basis was given to me and from that I wrote clues about each food item.


The kids took their shopping to Costco which is a lot like Sam's Club. It is a wholesale store that allows one to buy in bulk for cheaper. They were given 1 hour and $100 dollars and had to get as much for the allowance given.


Both teams did very well and together we were able to purchase, 50 pounds of rice, 50 pounds of flour, 30 boxes of macaroni and cheese, 25 pounds of sugar, 3 chickens, lots or Ramen, and many other beneficial food products to serve those in need.

The youth and all of their food shelf items!

It was a great afternoon of service and I think they had a lot of fun doing it too, I know I did.