Seven thousand eggs and more than 1,500 pounds of candy. Add in seventeen bicycles and six scooters.
Plus, one Volkswagen bug, a dozen or so kid’s riding toys and 12 extra-large food baskets.
Is this a crazy Easter aisle at the supermarket? Nope.
It’s the 2014 edition of the Twigs Bunny Lunch and Egg Hunt!
On Saturday, April 12, Twigs hosted their annual event for community members and all the children and families who participate in the Twigs summer lunch program and Twigs Pack-a-Sack.
Each year the program grows and this year was no exception. Hundreds of children and their parents came for an afternoon of food and fun!
As with all the programs that Twigs provides, the two most important pieces of the Bunny Lunch and Egg Hunt were our volunteers and our partnership with the St. Louis Area Foodbank. We literally could not function without those two groups of people.
Our relationship with the Foodbank is relatively new. We are just beginning our third year as one of their partner agencies, but the respect and admiration we have for the work they do, the service they provide and the heart of the employees who work there, continues to grow. Some days we just stand in awe.
One of the Foodbank employees we work with most is Trish. As she learns more and more about the Twigs programs, she continues to go above and beyond the call of duty to help us make the experiences for the children the very best they can be.
The egg hunt was no different. Early on when she found out about our yearly event, she asked if we could use bikes and/or riding toys to giveaway. She knows the children we reach are from low-income families who do not have the extra funds to purchase bikes.
Of course, our answer to Trish was absolutely!
So over several months as bikes would come in, she would send them our direction. Some were missing seats, tires or chains, but Larry, one of our volunteers, took care of those repairs.
As the time drew closer to the hunt, Trish asked if we needed candy to fill the eggs. Again, our answer was yes and she helped us find candy that would fit inside.
Often times when people think of a Foodbank, they think that all they do is supply food to needy families. Although that is true, the St. Louis Area Foodbank does more than that.
They are really in the business of touching and changing lives. For the children who won the bikes and riding toys on Saturday, their lives were touched in a profound way. They will never forget the day they won a bike at the Twigs Egg Hunt.
For Trish and many of the other employees at the Foodbank their job isn’t just a job, it is truly a vocation…a calling to make a difference in the lives of others.
So the next time you are at the Foodbank to pick-up your order please take a moment to say thank you to the employees for the awesome service they provide and the dedication they have to make a difference in the lives of others.
If your programs are like Twigs, you couldn’t do it without them.
By Lisa Guilliams
Pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in Granite City and chief dreamer of The Family Treehouse and Twigs.
