Instead of a Halloween party, the Auburn Assembly of God held a Fall Festival/Safe Holiday party on the Sunday evening prior to the holiday.

The Rev. Joshua Czyz (pronounced Chiz), who has only been with the church since February, wanted to invite the community to an event that would bring visitors to the church while promoting safety at the same time.

“This is our first outreach since I've been here,” said Czyz. “We want to be a highly community oriented church. We want the community to see God's love through our work. We have plans to develop after school programs, computer classes, tutoring and to help those in need of food. We have to go beyond the four walls of our church.”

The congregation of the church found that when they reached out to the community, the community was more than willing to help them. When church members went to local businesses asking for donations for the Fall Festival, they received pizzas, doughnuts, candy and many items to use as raffle prizes.

“This was set up as a safety event,” said Mike Ouimette, a church member and Sunday school teacher. “Every child is given a reusable grocery bag that was donated by Wegmans and inside is a whistle, a glow-stick and a sheet of safety tips for Halloween. The community really supported us.”

A very visible sign of community support was the presence of the town of Sennett Fire Department, which sent engine 212 and rescue truck 1. The children had a lot of fun getting in one of the trucks, blowing the horn and watching unsuspecting people jump from the sudden loud noise (and this reporter was one of them).

The Cayuga County Sheriff's Department sent representatives as part of the Operation Safe Child program. The children were photographed by one of the deputies, which entered them into a nationwide police database, and parents were given a special identification card with their children's information on them. The program's representatives recommend having a new photograph taken every year, because children change so much as they grow.

The downstairs church hall was filled with children playing the different games that had been set up. Each game was linked to a scripture reference. A poster over the fishing game read “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men,” and the sign over the jumbo bean bag toss said “The joy of the Lord is my strength.”

Rachel Czyz, wife of the pastor, kept busy serving pizza, doughnuts and soft drinks.

“This is very exciting,” she said. “Everything's going really well. After the games, we'll be going upstairs for a story and pumpkin carving.”

Rachel was going to read the story “The Pumpkin Patch Parable” to the children while two church members carved pumpkins. Afterwards, each child would be given a pumpkin to take home.

When the children and their parents were assembled in the sanctuary, the Rev. Czyz asked everyone to shout “thank you” as their picture was taken. He was going to send copies of the photograph and send one to all the businesses and organizations who donated to the festival.