Aug. 7 will the day of giving for Kids 4 Christ.

Saturday, Aug. 7, K4C plans to host the eighth annual Back to School Blast. It is a chance for the ministry to give away between 200 and 300 book bags to children in need starting at 9 a.m. Each book bag will be stuffed with pencils, paper, and a spiral notebook. An additional table will be set up for crayons, scissors, etc. depending on the need for each grade.

There will also be a carnival type setting. There will be an inflatable, “Spin the Wheel,” and face painting by Children’s Evangelism Fellowship (CEF).

There are no income requirements, but the child has to be present to receive a book bag and supplies. And the children will be registered at the beginning of the process.

Executive director Gail Marks said she was “excited about the upcoming event.”

“I am looking forward to having more families because of the turndown in the economy. I hope everyone who needs help will come out,” she said.

History

Kids 4 Christ, a nondenominational ministry, began in June of 2002 with just weekly Bible lessons on Wednesday nights at the old West LaFayette building.

When the summer ended, Marks and her son, Kris Marks, saw the numbers increase dramatically since the first week. They decided to continue the weekly meetings. It all eventually led to their current location for permanent residence.

In the end of 2004, they decided it would be wise to incorporate the Kids 4 Christ ministry. They installed a 7-member board of directors.

“It was a definite snowball effect,” Marks said.

Kids 4 Christ has held events in the past that are still in effect today.

Cool After School is a volunteer after school program that helps the children relearn the information being taught at school. The program is set up for 1st through 5th graders take an online pre-post test. The program has seen 1.5-2 grades increase in math and other subjects.

The ministry also offers Teen Training Program. This is a structured program that helps older teens learn job emphasis through volunteering for K4C. The volunteers/workers have certain times to be in, a dress code, and can gain or loose points, or even be dismissed from the program. The program can only focus on 5-6 teens at a time.

“They train through high school, so when they get a job they know they have to adhere to the dress code and other rules the management has set,” Marks said.

The ministry also has a weekly event called Kids First. This meets every Thursday night with children from three years old up to 8th graders. It averages around 100 kids each week.

With the ministry doing Neighborhood Adventures, which is where the ministry and its volunteers go to neighborhoods and do Bible lessons and lunch, their numbers have remained constant and are slowly increasing.

Mission

Kids 4 Christ (K4C) has a mission to minister to at-risk children to try and spread the word of God through Bible teachings, educational assistance, and Christian examples.

Since K4C is non-profit, 80-90% of their donations are from individual donors from the community.

“Since we work with at risk children, we make it our goal to remain constant. We have classes every Thursday night. We also have bus routes from Gilbert Elementary and North LaFayette Elementary that stop by and drop off kids. And we run them home when the classes are finished,” Marks said.

K4C takes donations, which ultimately help them supply the children.

“We have boxes in churches for paper, pencils, or anything connected to school supplies. We also partner with the Care Mission, which is also located in LaFayette,” Marks said.

Marks’s son, Kris Marks said, “We are winners if we work together.”

“We should work together as a community to cover the whole spectrum, but the community has helped us tremendously,” he said.

Back to School Blast

The last day to donate will be Monday, August 2, by 6 p.m.

Location: 108 West Withers Street in LaFayette

Time: 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

If there are any questions, call 706-639-3234.