Willow Street Church United Church of Christ (UCC) is continuing its commitment to be part of the fabric of the community.

Its latest outreach program is a Back-to-School Fling, which will be held Saturday, Aug. 2, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 2724 Willow Street Pike North, Willow Street. The church's first-of-its-kind event will be held outside, rain or shine. Everyone is welcome.

"This is a community event," said Marty Durham, who is the church's community connections director. "We want to reach out to our youth and support them as they're going back to school and let them feel love and support."

Students who attend will receive school supplies such as backpacks, pencils, erasers, highlighters, notebooks, and folders.

Willow Street Church outreach coordinator Linda Overley said the church has a budget to purchase supplies and is also relying on its congregants and the community. Anyone who wishes to donate materials can bring them to the church Mondays through Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. up to and including Thursday, July 31. "We have an incredibly generous congregation, and they always come through for us," Overley said.

The church will also provide food, including pizza, hot dogs, popcorn, and dessert. There will be a bounce house, a dunk tank, cornhole, ladderball, a ring toss game, a petting zoo, bubbles, and face painting.

"We as a church and a church council have long talked about wanting to be a community center, a community church, someplace where people feel welcomed and can come and not feel like (church is) being pushed on them," said Overley. "That's one of the reasons that we're doing this now. Our youth population is growing for the first time in probably 15 years. We have a very young, dynamic minister (Zach Wooten), who is in his second year. He's come in fresh with lots of dynamic ideas."

Wooten said, "One of the things we're trying to do at the church is to be more of a community church, to be a resource for one another, to care for one another. And so folks who come can be a part of that community. I think we're all yearning for something like that. So folks should come if they want to help celebrate our young people and encourage them, and we could all use a little bit more encouragement right now."

Durham said the church's motto is "Hope, love, and joy live here."

"That's an important quote," she noted. "That's the model that we stand by. We want people to come as they are. God is love, and we want people to find love when they come here and when they see us. They should come to this event if they need support, if they need school supplies, if they want to free meal, if they want to have fun and fellowship, if they want to make new connections, if they just want to be uplifted. There are so many reasons to come here."

Willow Street Church had previously held a Spring Fling on Mother's Day weekend, but that ended after the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Overley said as the congregation aged, the church was unable to staff large events. This year seemed like an ideal time to bring back the event in a new format and add fresh ideas. "We just decided that why let the grass grow under our feet, just because we've always done it on Mother's Day? We wanted to do the school backpack giveaway which we had done in the past, but it was not a big event. We figured what better way to reintroduce ourselves to the community than through a bash?" Overley said.

Willow Street Church holds many events throughout the year, including Thanksgiving and Christmas meals. The church provides healthy community meals on the fourth Tuesday of each month. Doors open at 5 p.m. Meals are served beginning at 5:30 p.m, and continuing until everyone has eaten.

Email community@wsucc.com for additional information about Willow Street Church activities.