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Canton, Ohio First Friends Church CLC First Graders learns they can!
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We at First Friends Really want you to know That we pray for your safety From your head to your toes. Like you, we are laborers With much work yet to do. For we're building God's Kingdom Which, of course, includes you. You're somebody special With a name, that is true. And you're precious to Jesus, Not just one of the crew. May this gift be a token Of our prayers sent your way For God's mighty protection Every step of your day. Written by Ruth Byrd permission to copy. |
What began as a first grade class dream of giving work socks to 50-60 men, became an all church project when the first graders learned that 160 men were listed as working on the Canton First Friends building site!
As Ruth Byrd, a CLC (Christian Life Club) teacher for Canton Friends, drove past the construction site for their new church facility, she noticed how small the workmen looked in comparison to the building...such a big project...and the men looked like little ants!
She knew that each man was precious in the sight of Jesus and wondered if for some of them, this would be the closest they would ever come to attending church. She began to pray for a way to reach out and show them the love of Christ through her first grade CLC class. What if they gave each construction worker on the site something personal to let them know they were appreciated? Then she got the idea -every construction worker could use warm socks!
"The theme 'Holy Socks!' came about because of the song 'Holy Ground,'" explained Ruth. "It made me think about how those men were walking everyday on Holy Ground - ground set apart for God's work. I knew the kids would remember it easier with a catchy title. 'Holy Socks' worked! We advertised it as socks filled with prayers - not holes!"
Holy Socks became their project for the fall. They planned to give every construction worker on the site their own set of work socks with a personal card from their class.
To illustrate how we are connected to other people's lives, they cut out strings of paper dolls. The children were told to decorate the first "leader" as themselves, and the second person wore a "hard hat" to represent the construction worker. They began to pray that this project would "touch" the construction worker just as the paper dolls touch each other. They didn't decorate the rest of the dolls because they didn't know whose life would be touched by the construction leader and so on and so on. Each child took their paper dolls home to remind them to pray for the construction workers' safety that week.
What began with a goal of collecting 60-70 socks soon became overwhelming when they learned that there were 10 separate contracting companies working on the site with over 160 men, total.
Overwhelmed at first, they asked Marva Hoopes, Director of Children's Ministries, and the entire CLC group at Canton for help. Marva typed up all 164 mens names and company labels. Children in Sunday School classes quickly began coloring and decorating the cards and an all-points bulletin was sent out to the congregation. They needed more socks! Three days before the socks were to be delivered, they had 174 pairs of socks (the exact number they were hoping to collect) and everything was ready. Claude Bancroft, instrumental in getting the men's names, delivered the Holy Socks.
"The children have been surprised by the number of personal thank you notes they've received from the construction workers," added Ruth. Some of the comments included:
- "You've really helped me to get into the Christmas spirit. I hope you enjoy your new church."
- "My husband works on the roofing crew. These new socks will help to keep him warm while he's working, Thank you."
- "Thank you for the socks, I work with the plumbing company and hope you enjoy your new building."
- One contractor had his entire team sign a Thank You card which they sent along with a $100 check to be used in the Children's Ministry at the church.
