SHREVEPORT, LA - Each year First Baptist Church Shreveport holds a Vacation Bible School for their youth and collects an offering to support a good cause. Signal 51 was chosen to be this years recipient of this offering. Below is a statement from the Minister to Children at First Baptist Church Shreveport, Meredith Hanna.
"It was an exciting week at First Baptist Shreveport’s Vacation Bible School! Our theme was Summer Road Trip. We explored how God has incredible things mapped out for us.
One of the toughest and most fun decisions we make in planning Vacation Bible School is where the kids mission offering will go. We have supported many local organizations, several missionary families, and even done school supplies for our community. There are so many great organizations in our city.
First Responders are near and dear to our hearts so we wanted to see what was the best way we could help. As we talked this over and prayed this through, Signal 51 Group kept coming to our hearts.
As a new volunteer Fire Chaplain with SFD, I am blown away by what Signal 51 one does. When a fire or major incident happens, like a miracle, a cooler of water and gatorade appears. Day or night, Signal 51 volunteers lives stop at the drop of a hat and they are there to support without question. Signal 51 Group supports and loves on our SFD and Caddo Parish Firefighters better than anyone I know. If the incident lasts a long time, or if the fire is first thing in the morning, they are known to bring food to make sure fire personnel is taken care of! One fire engineer told us on a freezing cold morning, Signal 51 even brought out hot water and hot chocolate packets to a major incident they were working. Any firefighter in the area will tell you, Signal 51 is a lifesaver. One of the best things heard from dispatch is, “Signal 51 is en route.”
Excitement built at FBC Shreveport as we shared we would be giving our VBS mission offering to Signal 51 to be able to help our Firefighters. We prayed daily for our fire personnel and Signal 51. When VBS came on Monday, we placed two fire helmets at the front of the sanctuary to collect the offering each day, one Caddo Fire Captain’s helmet and the other an SFD Captain’s helmet. Then we set an absolutely crazy goal of $2,000.00. Why not go really big? …Little did I know just how excited our children and families were to help our firefighters and Signal 51 Group.
In a Boys Vs. Girls offering challenge, our kiddos (and their families) gave a total of $2,815.91. *WOW* Many kids held lemonade stands, sold cookies, even gave of their own birthday money. And thanks to two anonymous families who matched the boys and the girls totals, VBS raised $5,631.82 for Signal 51. I just about fainted hearing that number. Never in my 16 years of volunteering at and leading Vacation Bible Schools have I heard of such a high VBS offering total. Many of our families shared how much they love our First Responders, and what a great way to show love meeting a basic need through Signal 51 Group.
We are so excited to share such a tremendous love to Signal 51 and our firefighters. Thank you so much for all you do for our community. Know you are prayed for by our church family and loved deeply."
- Meredith Hanna, Minister to Children
Photos by: First Baptist Church Shreveport
Video by: First Baptist Church Shreveport
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