Othello Pilgrim Lutheran Church competes for food bank donations
Pilgrim Lutheran Church/courtesy photo (Left to right) Ron Hosek; Sharon Mobley, manager of the Othello Food bank; Linda Bork and Pastor Don Short pause for a picture with some of the food collected for the Othello Food Bank by members of the Pilgrim Lutheran Church.
Othello — What happens when you have saints and angels competing against each other? At Othello’s Pilgrim Lutheran Church, it means that you collect 3,000 pounds of food for the Othello Food Bank and Adam’s County Pet Rescue.
Pilgrim Lutheran Church is no stranger to food bank donations. They have had fundraisers for the food bank in the past and have a basket in their church for food donations. This is the first time they have decided to turn donations into a competition.
“I decided that it would be more fun if we instigated a spirit of competition,” said Pastor Don Short, pastor of Pilgrim Lutheran Church. “We divided the congregation into two groups — the Saints and the Angels.”
Short took the competition idea from another group who does a play on words with the Super Bowl and turns it into a Souper Bowl, encouraging people to donate food to charities. The church’s food drive competition ended on Super Bowl Sunday.
The competition inspired church members to donate more food than they might have otherwise done.
“We had one women who said she was in it to win it,” Short said. “She kept showing up with food. It inspired others to get more aggressive. Her team didn’t win. I think the competition worked.”
In total, the food drive competition brought in 3,000 pounds of non-perishable food for the food bank and dog and cat food for Adams County Pet Rescue.
“There was a lot of enthusiasm for it,” said Short. “We had a lot of fun. The congregation really got into the spirit of it. A lot of people on the non-winning team are saying to wait until next year. We might have to shake up the teams a bit next year. The winning team (the Angels) won by over 300 pounds of food.”
Pilgrim Lutheran Church will be continuing its fundraising for the Adams County Pet Rescue on Tuesday, March 5 with a Shrove Tuesday pancake dinner. The event will be held at the church, 640 E. Elm St., in Othello, from 5 to 7 p.m. A free-will offering will be collected for both the pet rescue and Assured Hospice of Moses Lake. Everyone is welcome to attend this event.
Rachal Pinkerton can be reached via email at rpinkerton@columbiabasinherald.com.