VBS Final Report

After a lot of planning, organizing, budgeting and of course, praying, VBS Son Harvest was a wonderful success!  Held at Town Point UMC this year we had a great turnout!  We had 83 kids on Sunday, 95 kids on Monday, 70 kids on Tuesday and 68 kids on Wednesday.  For the final night’s activities, we had approximately 75-80 families share in a night of family fun and fellowship.

 

The participants in this year’s VBS learned to grow the fruit of their spirits – love, kindness, peace, joy and patience.  We had a week of great crafts, music, games and stories.  Our final night’s Hoedown included pony rides, carnival games, face painting and farm tattoos, live performance by the Jacob’s Well Praise Band, hayrides through Port Herman, and of course some fabulous food. 

 

While it is not always wise to point out specific people when thanking a group, for fear of missing someone, I can’t help but mention a few people who really helped to make this year’s VBS the great success that it was.  Forgive me if I have forgotten someone, but God will not forget who helped bring His Glory to our children.  First if not for Pam Downey, I don’t think we would have had an accurate count of attendees.  She really jumped in and thankfully took over the job of tracking the number of kids each night.  In case you were wondering, it’s not as easy as it sounds.  Secondly, if not for Debbie Turner, we would not have had fantastic mailers and inserts to keep everyone aware of what was happening and what was needed.  No VBS is complete without some great props and background and I would like to thank our art crew:  Mikki Senn, Tori Dissinger, Debbie Gimmy, Kayla Gimmy, Nikki Cirelli and Nancy Bogan.  Our community is really blessed with some talented artists and they truly helped to create fantastic scenery for the week.  Also, thanks to Linda Squires and her generous donations of rolls and desserts, we were able to stretch a budget far enough to offer pony rides for the final night.  We also need thank her husband, Rick , for doing a great job grilling the hot dogs.  What a grill!  And while the ponies were a hit, I don’t think anything beat the hay rides and I would like to say thank you to Dick Taylor, who graciously drove his tractor for 2 straight hours up and down Port Herman Road and through the town itself.  I don’t think that line ever let up!  I would also like to thank Tina Presnell, who did a phenomenal job with the Arts & Crafts.  I have never met a person with more energy and enthusiasm for bringing the joy of the Lord to our children than Tina.  Now no VBS is complete without some great games and Beth Ohline created some fun farm games to play.  I haven’t met a kid yet that doesn’t like getting wet in some form or fashion and they were not disappointed - between milking cows and catching “fruit”, I think everyone was wet!  Our music program was especially challenging this year but Alan Taylor took it all in stride and really put together some great music choices.  The music is one of my favorite parts of VBS, I love to listen and watch the kids sing praises to our Lord.  No VBS is complete without a mascot and this year the children were thrilled to meet Shucky aka Jessica Mullen.  Jessica read the stories of Jesus to our children and really did a great job in reinforcing the 5 fruits of the spirit – did anyone else hokey pokey today? I also would like to thank my sister in law, Jen Dolde, who really kept me on track and reminded me of the millions of details that I am certain I would not have thought of on my own. 

 

Our mission was to help stock the CCEA food pantry of Chesapeake City and our kids did a great job of bringing in some yummy breakfast foods and PBJ fixin’s. 

 

My thanks and gratitude go out to everyone who donated a night’s dinner, a food item for the Hoedown, brought their child, came to a meeting, lead a group, or prayed for VBS.  I know that God was pleased when He saw our children singing His praises, hearing His stories, and honoring all that He has done for us. 

 

 

Respectfully,

 

Pam Dolde