The age-old question has a great answer… What do you do when life gives you a bunch of lemons? You make lemonade. 2020 has given us a bunch of lemons. Every few weeks it seems there is another crisis, plague, pandemic, hurricane, flood or fire; and with it plenty of commentary on what’s wrong in the world. Yes, it is true there is plenty wrong in the world; however that means there is plenty of opportunity to make some cool refreshing lemonade!
Countryside Christian Church does not have a forest fire or hurricane in its neighborhood (yet?), yet we have been given a fantastic lemon right down the road at the Riverdale Schools. With COVID-19, all public schools have adopted some kind of modified learning program; and Riverdale’s plan does not have any students in the school building on Wednesdays. This is a lemon for many working families who need to have a safe place for their school-aged children to be on a regular work day (Wednesday).
So let the lemonade flow. “No School Wednesdays” have been a great opportunity to serve our community. We saw a need in the community and started Kids Club. This is a program with technology, reading, games, crafts and life lesson time on Wednesdays from 7am – 11am. We capped out enrollment at 15 kids and were full in a couple days. We have heard many encouraging heart-felt thank you’s from parents and kids. Our staff consists of Kathy Kohrt, Connie Curry, Sandy Lawrence, Sarah Denekas, Laura Schmidt, Ellie and Nathan Johnson, Becki Winger, Wayne and Cathy Lotz, and me. They have a wonderful spirit of “Yes we can!” and the program has truly been refreshing.
We hope to expand our ability to serve through Kids Club in October by raising the enrollment to 20 kids. This will happen when we have a few more volunteers join our staff. If you are available, we would love to see this program grow with your help. Are you available from 8am – 11am on Wednesdays in October? Are you available just one Wednesday or only an hour each Wednesday? Please contact the church office if you are available to help us reach our goal.
One more thing. We are planning to have a time of fellowship with the Kids Club families. We want to have a couple of fire pits burning and some S’more- making going on here on the church campus Saturday evening October 3rd. Will you please join us in prayer as we want these families to feel good about our church, the community it can provide, and ultimately we want them to meet Jesus.
God bless, Steve
