Reaching Kids One Scoop at a Time

A few months ago, we shared a blog post written by Tom Chilton, a dad who wrote about the value he saw in Verse-a-Thon as he watched his daughter get involved. Today, Chris Dunrud, Club Outreach Manager here at Awana, shares another Verse-a-Thon story. We encourage you to get the kids in your club involved in Verse-a-Thon too.

Kids reaching kids.

This is more common that you might think, and one particular 11-year-old has embraced the concept whole-heartedly.

Throughout her three years in the Awana Verse-a-Thon program, sixth grader Joelle Bounds (Verndale Alliance Church in Minnesota) has helped more than 100 kids.

How? By asking her friends and family to sponsor her for reciting as many Bible verses as she can on a given club night, so she’s taken verse memorization to the max. This year alone, she raised enough to help 45 children from around the world be able to attend an Awana club.

So why does she do it?

“It feels good knowing I’m sending other kids to Awana because I like Awana so much,” she said.

And she’s not stopping there.

Joelle recently took on a missionary project as a result of a section in her T&T handbook. With confidence, she stood in front of her church family and encouraged them to fill two ice cream pails with spare coins for the local Awana missionary.

Then she “sweetened” the deal. If the congregation could fill them up, she would allow her Awana leader to make an ice cream sundae … on her head!

Two full buckets and one sticky scalp later, Joelle stood beaming in front of her church, ice cream and chocolate oozing down her face, having raised more than $280 through the coin drive.

The satisfying feeling of helping others through Awana keeps bringing Joelle back for more, and she encourages other kids to give Verse-a-Thon a try.

“Try and do your best. It feels good to do the most you can,” she said. “The extra shares (Awana bucks) are cool too!”

What is your club doing to reach kids around the globe?

Why not plan a Verse-a-Thon for the 2015-2016 club year?

For more information, check out our Verse-a-Thon web page.