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By Bobbi-Sue Menard
VICTORY Life Fellowship is again bringing their popular
Back to School Bash to the Parkinson Rec Centre. The annual event gives
away backpacks full of school supplies to all who come in need.
Diana Tripke and a group of loyal volunteers from
across the community are gearing up to make this year’s Back to
School Bash the best one ever.
This year, they are giving away 450 backpacks full of
school supplies, designed to cover anyone of school age. Victory Life
purchases all of the backpacks themselves; some supplies are donated.
“On average, one backpack is worth about
$20,” says Tripke. “We go all over town to businesses, looking
for donations.”
The family fun event does much more than provide
backpacks.The free haircuts are very popular. Tripke recruits
volunteer stylists to help out.
“That is one area where we are always short,
getting people to help cut hair. It is a big part of what we do.”
Also included in the big day are a lot of games and
attractions for kids, creating a fun fair atmosphere. A large scale
bouncy house is on hand, and volunteers organize ‘wacky
Olympics’ – including classics like egg-on-a-spoon
races.’
Prizes for the games and draws for attendees are
generous, and include barbecues, above-ground pools, bikes and other
high-end gifts. “There is always a ‘wow factor’ with the
prizes – and we pray over who gets the prizes,” says Tripke.
“So often, we hear how people have really been
wanting the prize they won.”
Hundreds of volunteer hours are required to stage the
Back to School Bash.
The organizing committee from Victory Life
Fellowship accepts volunteers – whatever their background –
creating a community-wide event which reaches out in more ways than
one.
Working with lists from past events, and welcoming
people who call in, Tripke says more than half of all the volunteers come
from outside the congregation.
“It is so much fun to give; and we want people
who see what giving does. We try not to have people who don’t have a
heart to give; we are looking for those who love to see others
benefit.”
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The bulk of the financial support for the event comes
from the 100-person congregation at Victory Life Fellowship.
The event rings in at just under five figures, and the
congregation’s steady support is the only reason the Bash is able to
continue.
This summer also marks a season of transition, as
Victory Life Fellowship is moving – due to the fact their downtown
building is being sold.
They are holding services Sunday evenings in the
Christian Reformed Church. This new service location is being used
until Victory Life can erect a building on their new location, in the
Marshall Feedlot area.
“We are still going to minister to the people
downtown. We still go out [to] be with them, hand out sandwiches and
mingle,” says Tripke. The church offices will remain in the same
location for the time being.
Despite the upheaval of moving their service space,
Victory Life Fellowship is deeply committed to the Back to School Bash
– and it is moving full steam ahead.
Tripke is expecting a crowd of about 2,000 to attend
– and a mix of families, single parent families and university
students again.
“It is a pleasure to do this,” Tripke says.
Back to School Bash is being held at Parkinson Rec
Centre, August 23, 5:30 – 8 pm.
To volunteer, call Diana Tripke at 250-860-3044.
August 2008
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