Immanuel Lutheran School students learn about sharing with 'Soap & Quarters' project
Super soap. Say that in the preschool classes at Immanuel Lutheran School in East Dundee and you will hear giggles and laughter. But ask the preschoolers what that means and you will get a spiritual answer.
When Immanuel's preschoolers learned a fun song called "The Bath Song" for their spring program, they laughed every time they heard that Jesus washes them with "super soap." Their teachers wanted to make sure they understood that Jesus' washing them clean does not, in fact, involve a bar of soap, so spent a lot of class time talking about that figurative "super soap."
The PK3 class was so taken with that idea of Jesus using "super soap" to wash their hearts that they often sang the song while they worked and played, and no hand-washing session was complete without some joke about "super soap." This gave their teacher an idea.
While trying to figure out a large-scale mission project that the preschoolers could understand and that the rest of the congregation and school could support, she came across Lutheran World Relief's webpage about donating soap for people in impoverished areas worldwide and knew the preschoolers could understand how essential soap is in everyday life. And what goes with soap, but water!
Lutheran Church Charities also raises money for simple water purification devices to improve sanitation for families in storm-ravaged Haiti.
Soap and water - simple ideas that preschoolers could grasp and that would make an impact in lives across the globe. Lutheran World Relief and Lutheran Church Charities are powerful organizations that have a huge impact in the world, but both willing to partner with preschoolers to share God's love.
The preschool staff agreed to an ambitious goal - 1,000 bars of soap for sending overseas. The families also were asked to donate a quarter for each bar of soap to cover shipping costs, with enough left over to buy a water purifier or two. The "Soap & Quarters" project began and students started bringing in full-sized bars of soap and the collection box jingled as students dropped their quarters into the slot.
The congregation was invited to join in as well. Preschool Director Julia Heinz talked about the "super soap" of Jesus' love and forgiveness in a Sunday children's lesson. She painted a mental picture of what 1,000 bars of soap would look like; if laid end to end, the line would span the length of a football field. A thousand quarters, if balanced on their edges and stacked, would be higher than the ceiling in the historic vault-ceiling church.
Children took home a little treat in a sandwich bag and were asked to bring that bag back with a bar of soap and a quarter. Adults had hosted Lutheran World Relief's representative Mike Johnson at adult Bible study that morning for a presentation about all the things Lutheran World Relief does worldwide to share the hope of Jesus.
For the next two weeks, congregation members overwhelmed the preschool with their gifts of soap and quarters for this mission project. One senior member brought in his quarter jar, filled to the top with over 16 years worth of quarters collected. Some people brought one bar and some people brought a case of soap. The preschool director's office began to have that just-washed smell as bags of soap began to cover ever surface.
The pastoral staff enjoyed all the connections this project developed in the church and school. The Rev. Phillip Baerwolf, the congregation's associate pastor, loved the mission focus and the uniting of seasoned church members with preschoolers.
"What fun to hear Immanuel people all talking about this project, from our seniors to our little preschoolers! Trying to collect 1,000 quarters was a great challenge. From people who donated rolls of quarters in honor of others to those who carried in a single quarter or a single bar of soap, God's people worked together to help others on the far side of the world."
Senior Pastor Rev. William Yonker heard the preschoolers' spring program and their "Super Soap" song. "I love that these little preschool students can tell us that it is Jesus' love and forgiveness that washed our hearts clean from sin. Sure they learned a cute song and performed it well, but that truth of God's power and love is planted in their hearts and minds. We pray that their faith will continue to grow as they do. For over 157 years, our congregation has supported our school to teach children about their Savior and we praise God for these glimpses of His mighty work in their hearts and lives."
The preschool families brought hundreds of bars of soap. Children donated their own money or asked friends and family to donate too. One young boy took the flyer describing the mission project and presented it to the Women's Bible Study group at his church, Shorewood Bible Church of Rolling Meadows, and collected a box full of soap and quarters which he proudly delivered to preschool.
Another preschool student's mother leads the student council at her high school and held a soap drive on their campus for the project.
Even the church's local bank, First American Bank in West Dundee, supported the project and made an exception to their usual rule about not accepting unrolled change and agreed to take whatever loose coins Immanuel collected. This was no small task with over 17 pounds of quarters.
After three weeks of collecting, Immanuel Lutheran's preschool mission project brought in 1,234 bars of soap and over $685.98 in cash. The soap was displayed in the church atrium and even the quarters were photocopied and displayed to show what that many quarters looked like. This display only showed 1,391 quarters because some of the cash donations had not been totaled yet. The total amount donated, rounded to the nearest quarter was 2,743 quarters, nearly twice the number originally displayed.
Now faced with the task of boxing it up and mailing it, the preschool director contacted Lutheran World Relief for the address and was amazed to learn that there are only a few on-site collection centers for the soap with a mission, and one is located only 3 miles from the East Dundee school!
One-hundred percent of the money collected can go directly to Lutheran World Relief and Lutheran Church Charities to send the soap and to buy water purifiers.
Principal Sue Domeier was impressed but not surprised. "This project has gone so well for our littlest students as they learned about people who have so little and how we as God's people should share what God has given us. Now to learn that there are only four collection sites in the U.S. and one is located practically within walking distance of our campus - just wow. All those quarters can go directly to help God's people … that is just a God thing! What a blessing."
When asked about soap, Immanuel's preschoolers will tell you about the mountain of soap that God's people donated for sharing all over the world. Some can even explain that some of God's children don't have money to buy a bar of soap or clean drinking water, so they want to help them. But mention "super soap" and they will all tell you, amid their laughing, that "super soap" isn't soap at all, but the power of Jesus' love that washed their hearts clean.