HORSEHEADS, N.Y. (WENY) -- Easter Sunday took place on April 9th, this year. Overseas, the Pope celebrated the holiday with thousands of people at the Vatican, and in the Southern Tier, many people enjoyed the holiday by going to church and hunting for eggs. Today, this typical Easter celebration involving a scavenger hunt, where children collected plastic eggs filled with candy, was approved from a fun, different angle.

“What a phenomenal celebration over a thousand people came out this morning,” said Pastor Michael Spencer at His Tabernacle Church. “More people came out yesterday and now you are out here, and we are getting ready to do our easter egg drop with a helicopter." 

On Saturday, the church hosted an Easter egg hunt with 40-thousand eggs. The next day, 60-thousand eggs were spread across the church's field by volunteers. Moments before the kids sprang and hopped across the field to collect treats, a helicopter flew over the Horseheads church and dropped more eggs with goodies. 

“Family,” said Pastor Lucie Spencer. “We are all about family. The church needs to be family. We love and want to give back to the community and a special day today like Easter; it's about the kids, it's about the love of God, it's about love for each other.” 

Imagine the number of hands it took to fill all of the colorful eggs. Some eggs had candy and others had toys. The occasional egg had a golden ticket, which provided a bigger prize to the lucky finder. Pastor Michael Spencer said that it took eight teams to prepare the 100-thousand eggs. 

“There are so many people that have put their hands in the bow,” shared Pastor Michael. “I mean we have such a phenomenal congregation. Probably like eight departments that have, an enormous amount of people in each department that have done all the different portions” 

WENY wants to wish your family a Happy Easter and we hope everyone enjoyed the holiday.