Whenever Rose Parade day arrives each year in Santa Rosa, getting to the Santa Rosa Seventh-day Adventist Church becomes a challenge. This year’s parade, held May 21, was no different.

Being directly on the parade route, the road to the church is barricaded from 8 a.m. until after noon each year. However, for the past two years, members of the Santa Rosa church have used the circumstance as an opportunity to reach others.

Last year, six volunteers from the church dressed up in Jerusalem costumes, loaded up Radio Flyer wagons with water bottles and hit the streets of Santa Rosa early. The water bottles were special: each bottle had a label placed on it, which read: “Jesus is the Living Water. Those who believe in Him will never thirst. John 6:35. From your friends at the Santa Rosa Seventh-day Adventist Church.” They also included the church’s website and phone number on the label.

This year, however, something new was added to the water bottles—colorful door-hangers that fit over the necks of the bottles and advertised vacation Bible school. The response to the door hangers on the water bottles was positive.

Many came forward to read the announcements even though they didn’t need the water. “What a great idea!” exclaimed mothers marching on behalf of a day-care center. Not only did the water bottles attract attention, the wagons did as well. One of the wagons had high walls, which had VBS posters on three sides. Many came up to the volunteers and wrote down the information from the wagon.

While the volunteers were passing out water bottles, parade participants on Sonoma Avenue were making their way into the church to use its facilities, and all were made welcome.

By 10:30 a.m., volunteers had given away more than 500 bottles of water and were back at the church. Within a week, children were registering for vacation Bible school whose parents had learned of it via the Rose Parade water giveaway.