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Sarasota News Leader July 26, 2013 otherwise be in need over the weekend, the release adds. Surplus food will help stock Alta Vista's food pantry, which supplies food to the school's community, it notes. "Each year, we intentionally focus our young Bible School students on experiencing their first taste of being Christ's light in the world," said Jacki Boedecker, director of Children's Christian Formation, in the release. "It's a tangible way of instilling an early ability to recognize need and to share blessings." Past VBS projects have included building porch benches for Habitat for Humanity, sewing blankets for a local pregnancy center and crafting storytelling sets that illustrate Bible lessons and sending them to children and churches in foreign countries. Page 100 On Aug. 18 — after Vacation Bible School concludes — VBS attendees and their families are invited to attend VBS Celebration Sunday, which will involve the children in the presentation of the anthem during the 9 a.m. Mass, the release says. All children are also encouraged to bring their school backpacks to church that Sunday, when Redeemer's rector, the Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson, will offer a special blessing for the children as they prepare to begin a new academic year. He will lead the congregation in a Blessing of the Backpacks, the release adds. The service will be followed by a Sundaes on Sunday celebration in Gillespie Hall, "with a delicious smorgasbord of ice creams and toppings for the children to enjoy," the release notes. % Redeemer Vacation Bible School youth aide Caroline Devitt works with young children on craft projects in 2011. Contributed photo