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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Outreach effort

Some children come back to Spokane Christian Center year after year, searching for the plastic eggs with prize coupons inside. It can be hard to find one. There will be more than 20,000 eggs on the ground Saturday during the annual Easter egg hunt; only about 300 will have a coupon inside. The rest are filled with candy, also guaranteed to make eyes widen in delight.

The hunts begin at noon and 2 p.m. at the church at Bigelow Gulch Road and Argonne. Each child is limited to a handful of eggs so there will be enough for everyone. “We have 5,000 to 6,000 people coming through,” said Debra Pockert, director of Saturday Sunday school.

The egg hunt has been going on for 13 years and started as a way for the children who attend the church’s Saturday Sunday school to celebrate Easter. Like the name implies, the children’s program is Sunday School held on Saturday. The church sends 10 buses all over the Spokane area to pick up children for the 10:30 a.m. session every week. The buses go door to door to pick up anyone interested in coming. Once at the church they sing songs, dance, play games and learn about God.

A 10 a.m. egg hunt is open only to the Saturday Sunday school children, but the other two hunts are open to the public. The hunts are open to kids age 4-12, though younger teenagers won’t be turned away if they come.

Putting on the annual egg hunt is no simple task. This year the congregation raised $8,000 to pay for the eggs and the candy to stuff inside. Nearly 200 volunteers signed up to help.

“We’re all geared up for this,” Pockert said. “Everybody pitches in to help. It’s fun.”

One of those volunteers is Mary Savage, who brought her husband and daughter to help stuff the eggs full of candy. She sat filling one egg after another while others kept a steady stream of supplies flowing. A team of 50 volunteers got all the eggs stuffed in about two hours. “It’s just amazing how quickly it goes,” Savage said. “They have such a great system.”

Savage also volunteers as a greeter on the day of the hunt, something she’s been doing for seven years. She signed up after seeing a video about the annual event during church one Sunday. “I just knew it was something I wanted to be involved in,” she said.

Her job as a greeter is to welcome children to the church, then lead them to where a short program is held. This year’s program has a super-heroes theme and will include drama and music. Then she helps usher the children outside for the hunt. Her goal is to make sure they have a positive experience. “It’s just getting everyone in the right place and doing it in the right time frame,” she said.

During the egg hunts kids of all ages are out there together, though the younger children have their own area. “Everybody hunts at the same time,” said Pockert. “We blow the horn and they go.”

After the hunt, the children and their families can stay for a barbecue. People can purchase a hamburger or hot dog with chips and a pop for $2.

Planning and preparation have gone smoothly this year, unlike last year when the stuffed eggs were stolen from a trailer on the church’s property about a week before Easter. Someone apparently just hooked the trailer up to a vehicle and hauled it off. Frantic church members had only eight days to buy more eggs and restuff them with candy.

“We replaced them like that,” Pockert said. “Our congregation stepped up to the plate.”

Church members see the annual event as an outreach that can lead someone to God. Some people who come to the hunt end up joining the church and some children begin attending Saturday Sunday school. “It’s worth it,” Pockert said of the work required to put on the event.

“We can change the lives of so many people. We know it’s a great outreach for families, not just kids.”