Lots of fun at the Skyview Alliance Church summer camp

 

The Whitecourt Skyview Alliance Church held its annual summer camp last week and this year’s theme was Shipwrecked. The faith-based camp provided children with a week of fun activities all centered around the theme. Inside the church, organizers spent countless hours creating a truly marooned experience with an island, a real kid-sized boat, and palm trees. Over 90 children took part this year which is 20 more than last year.

Each year, the camp has special characters that go along with the theme to help engage children in a love for Jesus. This year that included a sloth named Moe, a manta ray named Rae, a jaguar named Hope, and a lizard named Guac. Along with a couple of others, the characters each stand for something important for the children to remember about Jesus’ love for them.

The camp ran from Monday, August 13 through Friday, August 18 and took place each morning. On the last day, parents were invited to the church for a free barbecue to celebrate the end of the camp and to see the different things their children did. From crafts to rehearsed moves to music, everyone was able to proudly show off their accomplishments.

Kim Tschigerl is the Summer Camp Director at Skyview and said the week was amazing. The theme focused on being in a sticky situation and not knowing what to do and the children were able to learn coping mechanisms to help them handle hurdles that arise in life. “We gave the kids tools to use when they are lonely or having troubles and struggling with something. These tools will help them know what to and how to do it. It doesn’t take them out of their troubles, but it helps them understand what to do when those troubles come.”

One sentence that could be heard repeatedly cheered by everyone was “Jesus rescues.” Keeping with the theme of being shipwrecked, the kids were taught that the bible is their map. “That’s going to keep them pointing towards Jesus who is going to help them. We teach this through all of our games and our crafts too,” said Tschigerl.

She said that the endeavour took a lot of work from volunteers and that over the course of the week a total of 45 volunteers helped make it all possible. “The children are our future so if we don’t instill that love and those tools to help them then they aren’t going to have that for the next generation. We just want to spread the love of Jesus Christ out to our community.”