Loading...St. James Episcopal and First Presbyterian churches in Shelbyville are again combining their resources for a joint Vacation Bible School, but this year's program is going green.
With the horrendous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as backdrop, organizers opted to offer a summer program that emphasizes recycling, renewing and replanting. This year the VBS will meet at St. James Episcopal Church on Main Street from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. (EST) July 19-23.
The program, "Renew! The Green VBS," is produced by Spark House and distributed by Augsburg Press. All teachers' information is printed with soy ink on recycled paper. Up to 80 to 90 percent of the things used in the program come from people's garages and closets. Based on the Parable of the Sower, the entire program involves young people of all ages, from preschool through teen-age years.
Appreciating how God's love grows like a seed in each child and helps him or her overcome challenges and "thorny" times in their lives. Throughout the program they learn how to take care of God's good earth.
Among the many fun projects, each evening each child plants seeds, including thyme, basil, sweet peppers and onions. At the end of the week, they have a pizza garden. Even the snack time is a learning experience about seeds and things that grow.
The projects involve existing community resources for recycling, renewing and re-planting so the kids learn how to plug into efforts already underway. The head of the Shelby County Recycling Center, for example, will teach the youngsters about the recycling program, but they also will learn simple things that they can do at home in the family and neighborhood. They also will study positive ways to stop some of the worst pollution and deforestation in parts of the world.
The elementary and pre-school children have been given permission to plant bulbs and plants in a long strip of land between the St. James parking lot and the new judiciary center parking lot to beautify the area at the far eastern end of Main Street. The teenagers, working with Sara Johns, of the Kentucky State Forestry Service, will plant a butterfly garden, a honeybee meadow, and a nut tree grove at Red Orchard Park, which is just south of Shelbyville. The plants and trees will provide many years of food for animals, birds and insects critical to Kentucky's native habitat.
The program may well spread the GREEN concept into the two congregations. Already, some adults are examining the possibility of working with a reputable E-Cycle company to establish a collection center in Shelbyville for recycling computers, printers, ink cartridges, monitors, scanners and other electronic gear. If done properly, E-cycle shreds these machines and avoids dumping toxic materials into U.S. landfills, and water systems of third world countries.
For more information about the Renew VBS program, contact, Diane Perrine Coon, Christian Education director at St. James Episcopal, at (502) 437-0077 or the Rev. Jay Hodge, pastor of First Presbyterian Church, at (502) 633-2693.
