Start sharpening your cooking skills for the first-ever Faith Community Cook-off and Picnic set for June 4 at the Temple of Jesus Christ’s Family Center.

This event will raise money for the Let the Kids Play Free campaign which is working to make youth sports as affordable as possible so all children can afford to participate.
There will be several areas in which your church or organization may compete during that day. There will be a chicken cook-off, a barbecue cook-off and also competitions for the best casserole, dessert, salad, mac-and-cheese, vegetable and iced tea. With each entry in the chicken and barbecue cook-offs, you are able to invite your church or organization to come out and enjoy the food, games and outdoor festivities during the day.

The event begins at noon, with lunch served at 1 p.m. You do not want to miss being a part of the biggest faith-community picnic ever.

Make plans to join that faith community’s effort to reduce poverty in our community by helping one child at a time.

We were so fortunate to receive a $10,000 donation from Tracy Mayo with The Main Street Collection. The donation has boosted the campaign. While surfing the Internet, a Cary woman, who works for Woodmen of the World, learned about Let the Kids Play Free and the $10,000 donation. She called me two weeks ago to let me know that she and her company, Woodmen of the World, were passionate about what we are doing. They have challenged our community to raise $2,500 or more at our Faith Community Cook-Off. If we do meet that challenge, Woodmen of the World will donate $2500 to Let the Kids Play Free. Please help us reach our goal so that we can receive another $2,500 to help our children.

If people outside our community are passionate about Let the Kids Play Free and willing to give, each of us should consider contributing in some way to help reduce poverty one child at a time through the Let the Kids Play Free campaign.

Every dollar truly helps with this campaign. We are working to reduce the fees for youth sports in hopes of allowing more of our children who have never been able to participate in youth sports in the past because they could not afford to do so. We have heard many stories from many of you regarding sports and the positive impact they have on children’s lives. Positive affirmations from adults within our community, and especially those from outside our community, validate the campaign. As many of you have told me over the past months, learning a new skill is a great way to build a child’s character and offer him or her hope.

Sports have the potential to change lives, and the more children who can be involved in organized sports, the better chances of increasing the odds. Children who play sports stay in school, graduate and become contributing citizens — thus breaking the poverty cycle one child at a time. So, get your organization or church together and join Temple of Jesus Christ, First Presbyterian Church, Cornerstone Family Worship Center, First United Methodist Church, Church of the Good Shepherd, the Beaufort County Committee of 100 and Beebe Memorial CME Church as we cook to help make sports more affordable for our youth and change lives one child at a time.

To obtain a Faith Community Cook-off and Picnic registration form, to contribute to the Let the Kids Play Free campaign or learn more about the campaign, visit www.kidsplayfree.org.