Children and families of Christ the King Lutheran Church spent the morning of Saturday, March 29, collecting items for a donation drive to benefit Newtown Animal Control Shelter.

Members of the Newtown community and beyond dropped off requested items such as pet food, toys, treats, bowls, dog beds, and cleaning supplies (multi-purpose cleaner, paper towels, and bleach).

According to Christ the King Sunday School educator Elizabeth Lowery, the church tries to do various charitable projects throughout the year with their Sunday School and youth group. She said the drive in support of Newtown Animal Control Shelter comes after the students’ recent lessons about The Good Samaritan.

“So I let the kids decide how they wanted to be Good Samaritans for the community, and they decided that they wanted to help animals,” Lowery said.

She said they landed on the idea about a month ago and had been collecting items throughout the month of March to donate to the shelter.

The effort was a combination of Christ the King’s Sunday School, which consists of children from pre-K through sixth grade, and the church’s youth group, which mostly consists of teenagers.

They all showed up Saturday morning, excited to help unload any cars filled with donations that pulled into Christ the King’s parking lot. A few of the kids waved out to the cars before racing to them once they parked. Everyone took turns carrying heavier items like large bags of food back to the donation table set outside the front of the church. Lowery even provided everyone with some donuts, blueberry, and corn muffins to snack on while they waited for more cars.

For Lowery, she is just happy to see her students come together as a team and work to support their community.

“Our goal was to show Jesus’ love to the community and to make a difference,” Lowery said. “I’m just so joyful to see them work together and help the greater community.”

Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.