Xtreme Kidz Outreach Makes Positive Community Impact

Zion Church Partners With Local Schools To Address The Art Of Humility and Food Insecurities

By Tiffany Young

During the month of April, Zion Church is partnering with two local schools to provide students with household items, personal items and non-perishable foods to help make a difference in the community and to be an example to their young members about the importance of putting others first.

Kelli Richardson, Zion Church Greenbelt Children’s Church Director. Photo provided by: Zion Church

  Identified as “The Community Garden Program,” Zion Church, located in Greenbelt, created this program led by Xtreme Kidz, the church’s children’s ministry program and the church’s Outreach Team to connect with schools in-need. Xtreme Kidz caters to children in preschool through elementary school.

Pastor Keith Battle, founder of Zion Church

 On April 14, Xtreme Kidz headed to Gaywood Elementary in Seabrook with bags of food to help feed 12 families who were in-need. On the same day, items were donated to Springhill Lake Elementary in Greenbelt for the school’s food pantry, which serves the entire school community. 

Kelli Richardson, the children’s church ministry director, said the idea to create the “Community Garden” was to teach students about giving back. Zion Church’s Xtreme Kidz program serves more than 400 children each Sunday, across all campuses and of that more than 290 children are accounted for at the Greenbelt location.

 “By allowing the children and families to participate in an outreach initiative like this, we’re able to help others and be a community of sorts where people can get the needs of their families met,” Richardson said.

  Richardson believes that partnerships like this are important for faith-based institutions to get involved in because of its community outreach. “Oftentimes, non-believers don't understand our passion for God or who God is, but when we show up for children and families, we show up for God,” she said. “When we have partnerships like this, local children and families see that we're in the community, and not only in a building focused on what happens on Sundays.”

  Zion Church, founded by Senior Pastor Keith Battle, has four brick and mortar campuses around the Washington, DC Metropolitan-area; Greenbelt, Fort Washington, Woodbridge, Landover and a large online membership community. Since its inception, Zion Church has grown to over 21,000 registered attendees and over 70 full-time and part-time employees.