Community Life Pastor Stephen Schneider arrived in Trail earlier this summer and jumped right into helping local causes.
He pastored at Gateway Christian Life Centre a few years ago and says his family loved Trail so much they decided to return “home” so Schneider could resume his church role.
The pastor’s first order of business was to learn about the area’s charitable works and choose one as the impetus behind a new family friendly and non-denominational event called Carnival for a Cause.
The carnival goes Sunday (Sept. 10) from noon until 3 p.m. on church grounds.
“The desire of our church is to honour our community more,” Schneider said. “We wanted to do a fall kick off event for our church, but then after talking to a number of people in our congregation our desire was to shift the focus away from throwing a carnival/fun event for ourselves and instead dream of ways to make it benefit our community.”
The price of admission is a non-perishable food item with all proceeds going to the area’s food banks.
“We will encourage everyone to bring a food item and hopefully have someone in the dunk tank that people will want to pay to see dunked,” he said. “Where all the funds will go towards the food banks.”
Schneider added, “”We chose the food bank for this year because we figured they were easier organizations for people to bring something big or small that could be a benefit.”
Besides a dunk tank, the church will offer games, a giant inflatable water slide and caterpillar, a children’s performer and face painting.
A concession will be serving hot dogs, popcorn, cotton candy and juice all for only $1.
The church is located at 8320 Highway 3B, across from Trail Walmart.
Along with Senior Pastor Rev. Shaun Romano and the membership, Schneider says their desire is to work together with other local service groups and organizations.
“To enhance the quality of life in Trail,” he said. “And the effectiveness, of all working agencies to hopefully communicate more and work more efficiently to meet the needs of our community.”