Erika Wilson offering Boredom Buster Bags for Kids and snacks outside Mission Bible Fellowship March 24.
Seeley Lake Elementary sixth grader Guadalupe Russell was the first student to stop by and get a Boredom Buster Bag.
On the note Erika Wilson asked the kids to text her photos of what they created. One girl sent a photo of what she made with her bag. "I think it was awesome," said Wilson. "There were a few craft kits but then there were just feathers and a bag and you could make a puppet or different things that they could do. It was just for them to really spark their creativity."
Sue Dunn and Debby Bowen, Seeley Lake Kid's Club volunteers, filling the bags.
SEELEY LAKE – When schools were closed for an additional week following spring break, Mission Bible Fellowship's Kids Club Coordinator Erika Wilson came up with the idea to put together Boredom Buster Bags to spark students' creativity and provide opportunities for parents to entertain their children. What Wilson didn't expect was how many new people in the community she met handing out the bags and how grateful parents and grandparents were for the entertainment supplies.
During an MBF small group meeting Friday, March 20 Wilson tossed out the idea of assembling the Boredom Buster Bags. She knew MBF had a surplus of supplies that they needed to sort through and the bags would be a way to stay connected to the students in Kids Club. Sue Dunn, one of the members of the small group and leader with Kids Club, volunteered to help.
Wilson checked with Rovero's to see if they would have any bags they would be willing to donate for the supplies. They donated the paper bags that were for a bag sale they couldn't use.
Monday morning Wilson cleaned out MBF's supply cabinet and organized it by category on a table. She found 48 of one item so they chose to fill 48 bags. Various items were included from the different categories making each bag different. MBF Kids Club volunteers Dunn and Debby Bowen helped fill the bags.
Each bag included an instructional note encouraging the kids to "be creative," "have fun" and "let your imagination go wild!" The note also included Bible verses Psalm 62:5-8 for encouragement during this challenging time, contact phone numbers for the Wilsons and information about financial assistance available through Loving Hearts.
"We just wanted to offer ourselves as being available to people who need to talk or need someone to pray for them," said Wilson.
Tuesday, March 24 the Boredom Buster Bags were ready for distribution. They gave out 43 bags and were able to hand out five bags the following days.
Wilson was amazed with the response from people outside of Kids Club attendees, many of whom she had never met. She felt the bags really allowed MBF to meet a need in the community.
"Kids are home a lot more than parents are used to. We wanted to help with that and give them something to keep them busy for a little while or spark creativity," said Wilson. "I loved getting to meet some new people in our community. I could tell that it was really meeting a need because they were so grateful to have this."
MBF will continue to look for opportunities to creatively meet the needs of the community while following the state's directives to maintain the health and safety of the pubic during the coronavirus pandemic. They encourage ideas and invite people to call if they need anything. Wilson can be reached at 406-499-2903. Pastor Craig can be reached at 406-499-2906. They will be posting other opportunities on Mission Bible Fellowship's Facebook page.
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