On Easter morning when the sun rises in Rolling Fork, some children in the community will find a pleasant surprise thanks to the members of Crawford Street United Methodist Church.

The church donated Easter baskets and special boxes for children to make sure they have a sweet Easter.

The Easter surprises were the idea of church member Linda Turner.

“I just tell people that God put this on my heart to do something for the children, and with this being Easter I just felt like it was something we needed to do,” Turner said.

She said the church sent a notice to members on March 24 asking them to contribute to the project.

“We put the baskets together Sunday (April 2),” she said.

“We did 25 baskets for children and then we did 15 boxes for junior high and high school kids because we felt the junior high and high school kids needed something,” Turner said.

The younger children received a regular Easter basket, she said.

“I had been in contact with a lady that I’ve done stuff with before in Utah and she sent me all the cloth Easter baskets that she had,” Turner said. “They’re really nice Easter baskets and we filled them to the brim.”

The baskets included candy and other surprises and were wrapped in cellophane and tied off.

The members prepared and wrapped the boxes as gifts for the older children.

“We called it an Easter egg hunt in a box,” she said. “We took a box and filled it with grass and took plastic Easter eggs and put things like fingernail clippers and nail polish or earbuds — something small inside the eggs and put them inside the boxes and down in the grass so they had their own little Easter egg hunt.

“We wanted them to know that we were thinking about the junior high and high school kids, too.”

Church members took the baskets and boxes to Rolling Fork Wednesday, Turner said, adding they decided to work with the Rolling Fork United Methodist Church and gave them to the pastor, the Rev. Mary Stewart.

“She was overwhelmed and very gracious and will distribute them to the children or to the parents of the children,” Turner said.

“We didn’t see the children,” she said. “We wanted the parents to be able to provide that to the children so they could have something to enjoy.”