Let The Games Begin…
It’s July. The time of year when drinks are cold and asphalt is hot. When clothing appears to be optional and old men wear black socks with their sandals and bermudas. When sweaty people gravitate toward pools, beaches, water parks and the like. And every four years in July we have the Olympics.
It’s also the time of year when Christ’s Church of the Valley puts on THE most fabulous event for kids in the area, possibly the state, maybe even the nation.
KIDS’ CAMP!
And this year’s theme is, of course, The Olympics.
For three days beginning next Wednesday our campus will be overrun with 1,000 kids from the age of four on up to those who will be starting 6th grade in August. As of this moment we have 980 kids already registered.
As you can imagine, this is a huge event for us. An event that wouldn’t be possible without people giving up their own hours. We have over 300 volunteers which is truly amazing. We have actors and props people and registration people and snack people and tech people and games people and crafts people and team leaders and assistants and logistics/security people and, and, and… the list goes on.
My responsibilities at work fall mainly to the preschool, however, in the summer I switch my hat and do the database side of registration and volunteer sign ups. Yesterday I forgot which hat I was wearing when I picked up a phone call and I said, “Providence Chris, I mean Christ’s Church of, I mean, um, hello?” Thankfully it was a preschool parent who was calling about next week’s Kids’ Camp and she just laughed with at me.
Now for some people the thought of 1,000 kids from age 4 to 12 in one place seems daunting. But this is the smoothest run operation I have ever seen, thanks to two women (volunteers, not staffers) who have done the registration for the past several years. For anonymity reasons we’ll just call them Mary and Karyn. Which is quite a coincidence because their names happen to be Mary and Karyn. But they are so organized that by the time camp rolls around everything is like a piece of cake (chocolate with a fluffy butter cream frosting), seemingly effortless. Being on the inside and seeing what it is they do I can tell you it’s not effortless. But it’s soooo worth it!
No doubt Kids’ Camp is a lot of work. There are so many cogs in the workings, but they all turn smoothly thanks to the tireless efforts of our fearless leader, Stephanie. She starts working on this in January and by the time the third Wednesday of July rolls around it’s a well oiled machine. I hesitate to even contemplate how many hours she puts in right before but I do know this. She deserves a looooong and luxurious vacation when it’s over.
As for me, I’m planning on taking a couple of days off after camp to paint my family room. Exciting, right? But really, painting is a good stress reliever and after 1,000 kids for three days straight, who couldn’t use a little decompressing? Until then, however, I shall be planted by my computer – either at work or at home – doing my part.
So I say, “LET THE GAMES BEGIN!”