Elizabeth A. Boudreaux
Staff Writer
The Student Council for Exceptional Children volunteered at an Easter egg hunt hosted by the Steubenville Park and the First Westminster Presbyterian Church at Belleview Park March 27 at 9 a.m.
Members of the Steubenville Park Association had previously filled as many as 4,000 plastic Easter eggs with a variety of candies and prizes and it was the eight SCEC volunteers’ job to “hide” the Easter eggs by sprinkling them over the park lawn.
To aid in the fairness of the hunt, there were five separate age groups ranging from ages 1-10. The volunteers prepared the kids for the hunt, and helped them wait for the game to begin.
Three members of the Steubenville Fire Department donated their time and provided the start signal: the siren of their fire truck. At the sound, the children ran out into the fields (the toddlers toddled) and each child filled a basket — or two or three — with Easter eggs.
With hardly a pause, the children opened each egg eagerly to see its contents. In each age group, there was a special prize egg, which entitled the receiver to an extra basket of candy and Easter-themed crafts.
The First Westminster Presbyterian Church donated small take-home bags of candy and toys for each child.
After a couple hours, the children began playing on the playsets while the SCEC volunteers helped the children with their prizes, cleaned up the area and collected plastic egg shells to be recycled.
SCEC seeks volunteer opportunities at similar events for the purpose of raising awareness for individuals with disabilities, both at Franciscan University of Steubenville and in the Steubenville area. Their next event is a bake sale in the J.C. Williams Center on April 14.