November 29, 2010

On Thursday, November 18 and Friday, November 19, 2010, three pastors and a priest from Pitcairn, Pennsylvania, took turns in the bucket of a fire truck to raise money for local food banks as part of an event called "Up in the Air for Turkeys."

The four of them took turns completing three-hour shifts in the fire truck's bucket, located nearly 30 feet off the ground, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday.

Pastor David Martin of Pitcairn Assembly of God says the churches had a twofold goal for the event. "Our goal was to raise as much as possible in those two days for the local food banks in the area," he says. "And of course the thing was to show the town that all of us are in the town for the same reason. We're different flavors, but we are all serving the same God."

This will be the fifth year for this event. Martin started the concept in 2005, when he spent two nights camped out on the church roof until 500 turkeys were donated to give to local food banks. In 2008, Martin switched concepts – instead of camping out on top of the church, he spent hours in a bucket of a fire truck to raise money for the food banks.

"This year is the first year where there was a combined effort of several churches in the Pitcairn Church Fellowship," Martin says. "We also had the event at a different location in town instead of the usual church parking lot. Church volunteers were right on the sidewalks greeting the traffic as it came by."

Because of the central location in the town this year, many people in the community were involved in volunteering for the event. According to Martin, the fire department loaned their fire truck for those two days, the police department stopped by several times a day, and the electric company set up extra lights for the event. "The borough/town council was very helpful, very aware and very thankful for what we were doing, so it became really a whole town effort by the time it got rolling," Martin says.

Nearly $2,500 was raised during those two days, and money is still coming in for the project. Martin says 100 percent of the funds gathered will be donated to local food banks, which have a structure in place to handle the disbursement of funds.

For more information on Pitcairn Assembly of God, visit http://pitcairnassembly.org.

AG News
Becca Dickson