The Vacation Bible School program at Union Baptist Church in Clanton is all about community service.

This year, for their annual project, they chose to donate much needed dog and cat food to the Chilton County Humane Society, collecting five bags of dry dog food and about 30 cans of dog and cat food.

The project culminated this weekend after a weeklong VBS program based on the theme “God’s Big Backyard.” Tomorrow, volunteers from the church will take their donation to the shelter.

“This year we focused on the Humane Society due to the fact that they haven’t been getting as many funds as in the past,” said Monique Harton, VBS director. “This week we’ve talked about how to serve our family, friends, neighbors, community and, most importantly, Jesus.”

Each night the church had between 85 and 100 children and youth in attendance, ranging from age 3-18. The program kicked off with a backyard bash consisting of several games and activities, and all week long they sang songs and did arts and crafts based on the theme.

Union also held an adult Vacation Bible School, which averaged about 10 people in attendance. The adults covered various topics on Christian living, faith and service, concluding with the idea of “doing good in the hood.”

“All the good we can do to make the hood a better place to live, it’s up to the church,” said Pastor Melvin Hunter.

He and Harton thanked all of the adult and youth volunteers who assisted in this year’s VBS program.

“We thank God this week that we have studied together, and we hope that our community will be a better place as a result,” Hunter said. “As we come out of the big backyard, we must go into the community to render service.”