THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, April 16, 1995                 TAG: 9504150086
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN              PAGE: 12   EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Cover Story 
SOURCE: BY ALLISON T. WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: DRIVER                             LENGTH: Short :   48 lines

CHURCH TURNS INTO EASTER EGG `FACTORY'

Grinning and wearing a hair net and cowlike black-and-white splotched apron, the Rev. Garland K. Hines Jr. cheerfully helped his congregation carry on its Easter tradition.

``This is just what my church does,'' said the pastor of Beech Grove United Methodist Church as he carefully weighed chunks of peanut butter Easter egg filling.

This is the tiny Driver church's 16th season operating the Beech Grove Easter Egg Factory. Working in two shifts every day for the last two weeks, 20 church members have made more than 30,000 chocolate-dipped peanut butter, buttercreme, coconut, and fruit and nut eggs.

Originally started as a project to make a little extra money for the church, the Easter Egg Factory long ago turned into a lucrative fund-raiser for Beech Grove, said project chairwoman Phyllis Goodrich. The project, which brought in about $1,000 in 1979, last year made the church $17,000.

Every year, the list of people and businesses from across Hampton Roads who make Beech Grove's delectable eggs part of their holiday tradition grows, Goodrich said.

Although she has not kept figures for the last five years, earlier church records indicate that Beech Grove's egg factory produced 215,160 eggs between 1981 and 1990.

``I've stopped keeping figures because they are immaterial to me,'' Goodrich said. ``But I bet we have doubled that in the last five years. These eggs are so good they sell themselves.''

Long after the Easter Egg Factory has closed down for the season, church members will continue enjoying the sweet rewards of their hours of cooking and cleaning, Goodrich said. Every year, egg sale proceeds make up 20 percent of the church's operating budget and fund special projects, including parsonage repairs and the installation of new chandeliers in the sanctuary. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II

Bobby Lassiter, left, and Jean Cox make candy eggs at Beach Grove

United Methodist Church ``egg factory.'' This year, 20 volunteers

have made more than 30,000 chocolate-dipped eggs to sell.

by CNB