Algoma Christian School
ACSI Region: Mid-America
Location: Kent City, MI
Program Objectives: (1) to give students practice in being good Samaritans; (2) to teach them life skills in nutrition, budgeting, and food shopping; and (3) to give them the opportunity to minister in their community by going to the local grocery store, purchasing groceries, and helping to deliver the groceries to a needy family
Summary of Program
We at Algoma Christian School wanted to provide a real-life experience that would encourage students to help the needy, to gain life skills in budgeting and shopping, and to learn healthful eating habits. So we began the Grocery Store Ministry with the third graders.
The school granted permission to the third-grade class to collect soft-drink cans and then take the cans to a store for deposit from September 15 through December 15 in order to raise funds to purchase groceries for a needy family. We then prayed that God would reveal to our principal two needy families in our community.
Beginning in December, the class studied nutrition in preparation for our trip. We focused on vitamins, minerals, and the food groups. The students also learned how to read the nutrition labels on products, and they practiced finding bargains in grocery store advertisements. We then told the children the makeup of the chosen families so that they could pray for God’s guidance in meeting the families’ food needs. We did not tell the students the names of the family members in order to teach the children to help those in need without receiving a reward.
The class also did a money unit. Supplemental to this unit were activities that provided practice learning to stay within a given budget by adding up items before reaching the checkout lane, practice counting change, and practice using calculators.
The class was divided into 10 groups, and each of the 5 food groups was represented by 2 groups of students. The students researched store advertisements to find out what was on sale. On the day of the trip, the groups brainstormed about what specific items they wanted to buy. The student clerk from each group recorded the information on a list to take to the store. Each group had an appointed calculator person, clerk, money giver/change counter, and a volunteer mom.
The groups shopped carefully for about 45 minutes, and the volunteer moms helped the process move smoothly. The students were responsible for unloading the items onto the conveyor belt, watching the screen for accuracy, paying the cashier, and counting their change. The students then placed the purchased items on the bus. The items were transported back to the school and then taken to the chosen needy families by a staff person.
Once back in the classroom, the students responded to their experience through having a discussion and filling out a response form. The following sample responses show that this ministry has helped the students in ways that cannot be measured:
- "I like giving to others. It was one of my favorite field trips in the world. It was cool because we had groups and worked together."
- "I really liked it because I got to do something nice for someone poor. It was awesome shopping. I think other kids should do it."
- "I thought it would be boring because [the grocery store] always is when I go with my mom, but I guess if I try harder to see what my mom is doing, it could be fun. We got to go to a real store. We got to check out at a real cash register. We got to share with families."
Grocery Store Ministry 7.4