Easter fun for everyone

Hunt To Can Hunger offering 12,000 eggs, seeking 1,200 pounds of food for Salvation Army pantry

March 28, 2013 at 1:00 a.m. | Updated January 1, 1905 at 1:00 a.m.

photo Easter eggs

IF YOU GOWhat: Hunt To Can HungerWhen: 4 p.m. Friday, March 29 (egg hunts, 5:30 p.m.)Where: Hamilton Family YMCA, 7430 Shallowford RoadAdmission: FreeWebsite: HuntToCanHunger.com

photo Hunt To Can Hunger

OTHER EVENTSCitywide Egg Hunt: Music, face-painting, balloon artists, inflatables, basketball shoot and football toss, 5-7 p.m. today, March 28, at Warner Park, 1245 E. Third St., with hunt for 30,000 eggs for ages 12 and younger at 6 p.m. Free activities; nominal price for concessions. 423-643-6096.Easter Bunny Cruise: A 90-minute riverboat ride aboard the Southern Belle with the Easter Bunny includes a full breakfast, coloring activities and magic show, 9:30-11 a.m. Saturday, March 30. Board at 201 Riverfront Parkway. $19 adults, $12 children 3-12. 800-766-2784, www.ChattanoogaRiverboat.comEaster Eggstravaganza: This all-ages event, scheduled 10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturday, March 30, at Thunder Creek Harley-Davidson, 7720 Lee Highway, offers games of chance and photos with Road King Roger Rabbit, an Easter Bunny decked out in Harley-Davidson leather and chains. 423-892-4888, www.thundercreekharley.com.Glow in the Dark Egg Hunt: Meet at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, March 30, next to the lake at Fort Mountain State Park, Highway 52, seven miles east of Chatsworth, Ga. $5 parking. Register at 706-422-1932.Hug-a-Bunny Day: Games, crafts and activities are scheduled 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 30, at Chattanooga Zoo, 301 Holtzclaw Ave. Includes egg hunt, real bunnies, photos with Easter Bunny. Free with zoo admission. New this year: One-on-one time with Easter Bunny at 9 a.m. breakfast; $10 tickets include full breakfast and souvenir photo. Registration required: email info@chattzoo.org or call 423-643-5703.

Christians celebrate hope and life at Easter, according to Dynamic Church lead pastor Wesley Odum.

Two days before Easter, he says, the church and its partners want to help "give hope and life to families in our city" by hosting Hunt To Can Hunger.

The festival, set for 4 p.m. Friday, March 29, at the Hamilton Family YMCA, features a hunt for 12,000 Easter eggs, a mobile video game trailer, photographs with the Easter Bunny, a jump house, a petting zoo, face-painting and food for purchase from Chick-fil-A.

"We wanted to do something more than a church service this year," Odum said. "We wanted something that would [physically] affect others."

Attendees are asked to bring nonperishable food items to stock the nearly empty pantry of The Salvation Army.

"Donations have been low," Odum said, "and there is an extremely high demand right now. They've taken a hit."

Since the local Salvation Army turns 120 years old this month, the goal for the event is 1,200 pounds of nonperishable food.

Some activities will be inside, and the egg hunt, weather permitting, will be outside.

"Our goal," he jokes, referring to the slow-developing spring, "is to have more [eggs] than blades of grass."

While those who attend are encouraged to bring nonperishable food items, monetary donations are also welcome.

A portion of proceeds from the sale of Chick-fil-A food also will be donated to The Salvation Army. Those who are unable to attend may donate nonperishable food items in barrels at any local YMCA this week or make monetary donations online at HuntToCanHunger.com.

Contact staff writer Clint Cooper at ccooper@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6497. Subscribe to his posts online at Facebook.com/ClintCooperCTFP.

Church-sponsored hunts

• Coolidge Park, 150 River St.: 9 a.m. Sunday, March 31; sponsored by Stuart Heights Baptist Church.

• Dallas Bay Baptist Church, 8305 Daisy Dallas Road, Hixson: 5 p.m. Saturday, March 30, featuring Easter egg drop from helicopter.

• East Ridge High School football field, 4320 Bennett Road: 10 a.m. Saturday, March 30 (babies to prekindergarten), 11 a.m. (kindergarten through sixth grade); sponsored by Jones Memorial United Methodist Church.

• East Ridge United Methodist Church, 1601 Prater Road: 9:45 a.m. Sunday, March 31.

• Fairview Elementary School, Jenkins Road, Rossville: noon Saturday, March 30; sponsored by Fairview Baptist Church.

• First Christian Church, 650 McCallie Ave.: following 10:45 a.m. service.

• St. Alban's Episcopal Church, 7514 Hixson Pike: 9:30 a.m. Sunday, March 31; preceded by 9 a.m. brunch.

• St. Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church, 7555 Ooltewah-Georgetown Road: following 10 a.m. service Sunday, March 31.

• St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church, 900 Clingan Ridge Road, N.W., Cleveland, Tenn.: following 9:30 a.m. Mass Sunday, March 31.

• Soddy United Methodist Church, 255 Depot St., Soddy-Daisy: 2 p.m. Saturday, March 30.

• Tyner United Methodist Church, 6805 Standifer Road Road: 10 a.m. Saturday, March 30 (breakfast included).

• Union Fork Baptist Church, 350 Lee Pike, Soddy-Daisy, noon Saturday, March 30 (ages 2-sixth grade).

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