Family Fun Night

It has been a busy couple of weeks here in Dallas with day camp kicking off. St. Mark's United Methodist Church is a wonderful place to be. Our first two weeks were awesome - Welcome to the Jungle & Superhero week! I am by far most excited about next week, though. We have the incredible opportunity to host a Family Fun Night where all of the kids can bring their whole family to the church for a free night of dinner and games! The kids will be diving into the Caribbean for Pirate Week with lots of activities to help them learn about the tropics that will lead up to our Family Fun Night: X "Marks" the Spot!

Why is Family Fun Night so near and dear to my heart? Growing up, my parents spent a lot of time with my brother and me. We ate dinner together every night, went on vacation together, and even had Family Game Nights. I know that not all of our kids at camp have the same experience with their parents - whether it's because their lives are busier, or just more stressful, it can be hard to incorporate family time when there is so much going on under the surface. 

Family time at Grandma's house, it seemed like this was every week

Family Fun Night with Project Transformation is a really great time for the parents and siblings to hang out with their family and have some stress-free fun! They will get to see what their kids have been doing at camp, and even get their feet wet with some of the activities that their kids have been doing, too.

So Arrrrrrrrrrrrr we ready to set sail?! 

AY AY CAPTAIN!

Training Week!

Hannah (a great friend & teammate from last year) & me at the North Texas Annual Conference

             Despite the name, intern training week at Project Transformation is full of fun and surprises! Yesterday concluded our week of preparation through sessions, team meetings, and (oh yeah) high ropes courses! The week is unique to the rest of the summer, as it is the most time we will spend "together" with the other 90 interns rather than apart in our separate teams at our sites. It's also a time that we have the opportunity to get to know the full-time staff of Project Transformation. It truly is a welcoming week into the rest of our summer.

I am full of spirit coming into the first week of camp with our kids. This year, I'm on a whole new team at a whole new site church! The St. Mark's team is a goofy bunch of interns, and we are loving it.

Lindsay is the sweet one, Rachel is the extroverted "introvert," LaShanta is the talent, Phil is the friendliest, Timmy is our comic relief, Amanda is the baby (our only team member not born in 1991!), Cole is the meanie pants, Crystal LOVES Dr. Pepper, Hannah has California swag, and Tess is the ever-happy teammate. Needless to say, we're already getting to know and love each other, even in this short past week.

About our site - we have 80 elementary kids and about 40 middle-schoolers at camp this summer, and the help of 4 high school volunteers. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to post pictures of the children online. However, PLEASE feel free to email or text me and I will happily send you pictures (in a text, email, or snail mail!)

How do the kids get selected to come to PT? Well, all kids in the program qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. From there, we have a waiting list of other children who usually have some kind of financial need. The families pay $5 to register their children. PT programming finances come from donation. (P.S. - if you're interested in donating - click this "Donate Now" button!)

Thanks for reading! I'll keep ya updated about our first week at site!

Shelley

St. Mark's SHARKS!