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Some 60 churches in the Tacoma, Washington area have turned a new school year ritual into a meaningful outreach to needy children and schools, a cross between a block party and the state fair midway, where the best prize is a new box of 64 crayons.

It started as Mark Kramer, pastor of Trinity Church, and the church's secretary watched the children, many of them from lower-income families, come and go from the school across the street. They wondered how to help the kids. From their brainstorming session the School Supplies Carnival emerged, a fun-filled Saturday where kids play games and earn points to "purchase" donated school supplies.

In five years, the event has grown to five locations across Pierce County, providing a needed boost to 5,000 children each year.

"We'd spend several weeks after school started looking for supplies for kids who didn't have any," explained Diane Brown, social worker at Spanaway Elementary School. "Sometimes those kids wouldn't start school because their parents would want to have supplies first."

"When you see a child's face light up, and you see what can happen in their lives, it's incredible," says Kurt Mach, pastor of Peninsula Christian Fellowship. Mach quickly teamed with Kramer to encourage other churches to join the project. The churches provide workers for three teams: the event team, which organizes and operates the games; the prayer team, at work throughout the six months of preparation; and the follow-up team, which contacts every family offering to pray for them and provide information about local churches.

During the summer the congregations fill large trash cans with new pencils and notebooks and crayons. Retailers supply backpacks and lunch boxes, and parachurch groups, including World Vision, are supporting the ministry, too. Then at the carnival sites in August, in addition to the games, music, and food, police and firefighters entertain the kids with demonstrations, and the local health department provides free immunizations.

The state education department is urging development of the carnivals across Washington. "If you believe in children, you'll get involved and show them you love them," assistant superintendent Andrew Griffin says. Griffin and community leaders are buoyed by the unity of the churches.

"They are impressed how easily it seems these congregations of different theological backgrounds have come together, working side by side," says youth pastor Chuck Gustafson of Peninsula Christian Fellowship.

"The neatest part of the carnivals is what takes place afterward, because of the relationship built between the churches and the schools," Kramer says. "When the schools are in need, they often turn to the churches that have been involved and are willing to accept their help."

The Faith Partnership of Greater Tacoma has produced a short videotape and booklet explaining the carnivals. "It's the type of thing that's reproducible in any community, large or small," Kramer says.

For more information, send emails to pcf7@juno.com

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