Plan Your Church’s Summer Service Project

Answer a few questions.

We’ll recommend a project that fits your church’s size, schedule, and desired level of involvement.

Find the right project

This takes about two minutes. Your answers will create a recommendation and alert Rob so he can follow-up personally.

Feeding Hands Custom Summer Service Plan

Personal Care or Food Drive

This is a strong fit when your church wants a concrete, hands-on way to gather food or personal care items for neighbors in need. The Stonecrest/Warren example below shows how a Saturday drive can become both practical mercy and community connection.

Best for: youth groups, adults, whole congregation

Engagement: simple to moderate

Notice: one month for grocery store drive

Food and personal care drives give churches a concrete way to turn generosity into practical care.

1. Choose your format: a grocery store drive, a church Sunday collection, or a youth/small group effort.
2. If you want a grocery store drive, give Feeding Hands at least one month’s notice so we can coordinate a 9am–3pm, two-shift collection.
3. Communicate clearly and repeatedly with your people. Start with the why: families in our community depend on practical goods like food, hygiene items, and household supplies.
4. For large collections over 500 pounds, Feeding Hands can help coordinate truck pickup from your church or drive location.
5. Coordinate with Rob or Roxanne about dates, drop-off, pickup, photos, and whether a Feeding Hands representative should speak to your group.

Change for a Cause

This is a simple, visual, and child-friendly way to help children participate in generosity during a one-week program.

Best for: VBS and sports camps

Engagement: simple

Excellent for younger children

Liberty Corner Presbyterian Church’s summer camp collection effort—small gifts combining into a powerful impact for hundreds of families.

1. Set out a large visible container and invite children to bring change or small gifts each day.
2. Decide whether the goal is collaborative or competitive between groups, teams, or classes.
3. Give parents plenty of runway before the week begins so families know what to expect.
4. Spotlight progress each day and connect the gift to real neighbors who need food and personal care support.
5. At the end of the week, Feeding Hands can provide a thank-you video or send a representative to thank the children in person.

Competition or Themed Drive

This works well when your church wants a memorable, high-energy project that gives children a hook to talk about at home.

Best for: VBS, camps, youth groups

Engagement: moderate

High energy

Friendly competitions can help children connect joy, teamwork, and mercy in a memorable way.

1. Choose a specific need to focus on, such as dish soap, shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant, household cleaner, canned chicken, or canned tuna.
2. Frame the item in human terms: what would it feel like for a family to need this and not have it?
3. Create a friendly structure such as boys vs. girls, team vs. team, cabin vs. cabin, or color group vs. color group.
4. Use a lighthearted reward, such as a pie in the face or dunk tank, if it fits your church culture.
5. Connect the competition to love of neighbor and the call to ‘outdo one another in showing honor’ from Romans 12:10.

Grocery Budget Challenge (SNAP Challenge)

This is a better fit when your church wants a deeper reflection on hunger, limited resources, and faithful neighbor-love.

Best for: youth, adults, mercy teams

Engagement: moderate to full

Rob visit recommended

The Grocery Budget Challenge invites prayerful reflection on hunger, food costs, and faithful neighbor-love.

1. Invite participants to consider what it is like to plan meals with sharply limited food resources.
2. Pair the challenge with teaching, prayer, and discussion rather than treating it as a game.
3. Help participants connect the reflection to local families facing food insecurity in Somerset County.
4. Choose a concrete response: giving, serving, collecting items, or visiting Feeding Hands.
5. Consider inviting Rob to help frame the discussion pastorally and connect the experience to tangible mercy ministry.

Full Partnership with Feeding Hands

This is a good fit if you want Feeding Hands to help shape the project around your church’s theme, teaching, or ministry goals.

Best for: theme integration

Engagement: full

Includes planning help

Full partnership helps connect your church’s summer theme to concrete works of mercy.

1. Schedule one planning conversation with Rob from Feeding Hands.
2. Share your VBS, camp, or ministry theme, dates, and expected size.
3. Choose a project model: Change for a Cause, a themed drive, a collection, or a deeper hunger reflection.
4. Feeding Hands can help with communication language, video, signage, bins or pallet planning, and presentation content.
5. Rob can visit your VBS, camp, youth group, or church to connect the project to love of neighbor and the work of Feeding Hands.