Ledyard Children Reach Out to Refugees in CT

When local churches look past their differences, choosing instead to focus on the love of Christ that unites them, vital work is accomplished. This is called ecumenical cooperation. Gales Ferry / Ledyard churches recently combined efforts to offer a free surf-themed Vacation Bible School to the children in local communities. Sponsored by St. Luke Lutheran, St. David's Episcopal, Gales Ferry United Methodist, and Ledyard Congregational Church, the event welcomed preschool and elementary kids from all over New London County and beyond. The hope was that children (and youth and adult volunteers) from neighboring churches would have a chance to get to know one another while sharing a positive message about God's love. As it turned out, the volunteers running the program were not the only ones who would be reaching in to the community ecumenically to love their neighbors; the children proved to be full of ideas and energy to serve others.

Children who attend VBS often bring small offerings for a selected charity. During the planning stages of VBS, representatives from the churches discussed possible ministries that this offering could benefit. Ultimately, coordinator Mary Robinson decided to let the children decide how they would like any offering spent. At VBS, the kids kept busy with crafts, stories, music, science, recreation and snacks. Time was also spent creating pillows for nursing home patients and laundry detergent “gift bags” to deliver to local laundromats. But the kids had even bigger service planned.

On Wednesday, the recreation activity was building boats from foil. The young engineers experimented with different shapes, layers and techniques. Once they had a successful design, the kids competed to see whose vessel could hold more rocks. Inevitably, each boat had a maximum capacity and would ultimately succumb to the weight of the passengers, sinking to the bottom of the kiddie pool sea. One observer noted the parallels of the experiment to the refugee boats in the Mediterranean. More than 2,500 refugees have died trying to cross this sea in search of safer shores. For some of the 5^th and 6^th graders this was well known, others were learning from their friends who shared what they knew with the class. The kids were inspired to help. One student shared that her church was involved with a ministry to help refugees in Connecticut. The children had found a mission that spoke to them.

At the closing ceremony at St. Luke Lutheran, 6^th grader Carly Curtis, from Ledyard Congregational Church, nervously approached the front of the crowd of more than 100 kids, volunteers and parents to tell the group about IRIS – a New Haven-based organization devoted to helping refugees start new lives in Connecticut. The children’s diligent daily donations of coins had added up to $107.00 to help the cause. From the littlest preschooler to the pastors, everyone cheered. Vacation Bible School had required a lot of hard work from the youth and adult volunteers, but this IRIS ministry was entirely the work of the children. A new generation is already stepping up to work together to do God's work in the world.

For more information about IRIS visit irisct.org