Church youth group scavenger hunt benefits Loaves and Fishes

On Sunday, September 20, the Victory Memorial United Methodist Church competed in a scavenger hunt collecting food for Loaves and Fishes, the local food bank. Parents volunteered to drive the students around town in separate groups to collect both food and monetary donations.

In total, the group collected around 12 shopping carts full of food and over $100 in donations, according to Youth Director Jeramie Herrera. Once the students collected all of the items, they met back at the food bank, brought everything inside and stocked the shelves themselves.

Every month, a different local church organization volunteers to support Loaves and Fishes. Herrera said that, since September is Victory Memorial’s volunteer month with the food bank, the youth group has chosen to do this scavenger hunt every September. In addition, throughout the month of September, the church sets out donation boxes for congregation members to donate food if they wish.

Though September is Victory Memorial’s month to serve the food bank, the youth group

and congregation do many other service projects in the community throughout the year. On the first Saturday of every month, they come together and complete projects, like building wheelchair ramps or patching roofs, for those in need. The youth also participate in the Angel Tree program in December, through which they choose Christmas presents to gift to children with incarcerated parents.

The Victory Memorial United Methodist youth group emjoys finding ways they can give back to their community year-round.

(Courtesy photo) Pictured left to right: Mason Yell, Carely Chavez, McKenzie Johnson (holding Oakley Herrera), Sadie Garrison, Addison Stavig, Brooklyn Tuttle, Mylee Williams (front), Rilee Slover (back) and Sage Bond. (Not pictured: Parent volunteers were Alison Clemans, Randy Yell, Tammy Cotter, Jen Tuttle and Maggi Stavig.)