Did First Presbyterian Church, Newhall's vacation Bible school have meaning?

More than 10 days after it ended, Samantha still takes out her music CD and sings the songs, and at home, she has added dance steps to the tunes.

When asked what else she did at vacation Bible school, Samantha pulls out a key chain filled with liquid and glitter.

Chris talks about the games. His favorite game was when his team had to blow as many bubbles into a bucket as they could.

For Colin, it was the mission project. His family brought in the most food and personal hygiene items for Hunger Defense Fund, a food bank covering the Santa Clarita Valley. This includes the cities of Agua Dolce, Acton, Castaic, Val Verde, Stevenson Ranch, Newhall Saugus, Valencia and Canyon Country.

For five days, vacation Bible school leaders witnessed the kids scrambling to bring food to feed the needy families.

"I was disappointed in the number of families that signed up to help stock Hunger Defense Fund's shelves, but I couldn't believe the amount of food and personal hygiene items that the kids donated," said Lori Crawford, a member of the Children's Ministry Committee. "In fact, it was beyond my imagination. Over 1,743 food items and 82 personal hygiene items, worth $3,400, were obtained in four days. It was three times the amount we have ever raised at vacation Bible school."

During the week of June 23-27, an average of 90 kids met at the First Presbyterian Church, Newhall, from 9 a.m. until 12:30 p.m., playing games, learning about Christ, reading and singing.

The theme forthis year's vacation Bible school was Power Lab-Discovering Jesus' Miraculous Power. Because of the scientific theme, the committee wanted a local mission project that the kids could touch, see, smell and hear, just like the experiments at vacation Bible school. For this reason, Hunger Defense Fund was adopted.

"From the very first day, we challenged the kids to fill large barrels, decorated as science beakers, with food," Crawford said. "The kids adopted the project and overflowed the beakers."

Wendi Lancy, Hunger Defense Fund organizer, was not even sorry about the low number of families who signed up to volunteer for Hunger Defense Fund. Although by the end of vacation Bible school, only eight families signed up to volunteer stocking shelves and distributing food, Lancy related that since vacation Bible school ended, more families who were exposed to Hunger Defense Fund have donated time to the group.

Families fromvacation Bible schoolare still calling. In fact, Lancy related that a local swim team will be holding a food drive for Hunger Defense Fund, and this came about because the woman's daughter attended vbs.

"The First Presbyterian Church's vacation Bible school was a life saver," Lancy said. "Summer is our hardest time. The need for us is greater because the kids are out of school and don't receive free breakfasts and lunches. This puts more strain on the families that are having financial problems. We need more donations rather than less. The church's vacation Bible School has filled our shelves."

In addition, the $65 in cash received during vacation Bible schoolhas increased, according to Lancy. She explained that more cash has been donated by families that had kids in vacation Bible school.

All this energy came from 90 kids who collected a tremendous amount of items in four days, Lancy said.

Lancy valued the items at more than $3,400. Dorothy Ng, church elder and head of children's ministry, stated that this vacation Bible school mission project was the biggest one that First Presbyterian Church had ever organized.

Ng gave total credit to the kids. "The kids raised over three times the amount we have raised through mission projects before," Ng said. "I think the best we did before was $600. This was something we never expected."

Gail Nehring, church secretary and vacation Bible school volunteer, agreed that the success of the vbs mission was the kids. "They were the power, she said. They did the work asking neighbors and family for food and personal hygiene items."

Nehring talked about one boy named Cole who raised 400 food items with his family. She explained that when he went home after the first day at vacation Bible school, his grandmother asked him what he learned.

According to Nehring, he told his grandmother he met Jesus. "You have to understand," she said. "This was his first time he had been in church and attending vacation Bible school. He told his parents he wanted to collect lots of food. This mission touched him, and because of this, he brought in over 400 food items."

Nehring added that a number of kids brought in 40 or more items.

The squeaky beaker - the preschool group - was the winner of the group competition, according to Crawford.

"By Friday, many of the beakers were overflowing, and food was just lying on the ground," Crawford said. "All the groups were great, but I was proud of those squeaky beaker kids. They wanted to win, and they did it. A lot more of them took wagons and went door to door in their neighborhoods than members of the other groups."

According to Ng, the vacation Bible school program emphasized the power of giving and volunteering. As Ng explained,vacation Bibleschool was designed to raise awareness that people and families need help, and she stated that the emphasis on science was just a vehicle to carry the message.

Throughout the five days, the games, food, crafts, bible story, and daily drama were used to explore Jesus' power and commitment to helping others, according to Ng.

"From there we took the next step that the kids needed to give back to people and families in need," Ng explained. "We decided that Hunger Defense Fund would give the kids a concrete chance to see how they could help others."

Fun was also emphasized. The daily play detailed the problems of mad scientists who created enormous, human size, hybrid lab rats and how they were going to change them back to ordinary lab rats.

"I loved the snacks best,," one blond 5-year-old named Billy said during the goodbye picnic held Friday afternoon aftervacation Bible school ended. "I really liked it when I got extras."

Most kids loved the games. "Each day two games and an experiment were done during games, Ng said. "The favorite one was a box of mentos in a two liter soda bottle. The chemical reaction caused an explosion. The kids loved seeing the bottle explode into the air. Sometimes it flew up four feet or more. As it went up, the foaming soda spewed out one end."

When asked about his favorite experiment, 9-year-old David said it was the hula hoop bubble that enclosed him and his buddies.

Ng explained, "The kids would stand in a wading pool on a cement block, with the pool filled with bubble solution. When everyone was ready, the hula hoop was placed in the solution, and then, it was pulled up and around the kids. They became kids in a bubble."