Kids from Bradford had the opportunity to learn, make friends, and create memories through the Vacation Bible School (VBS) at St. John’s Presbyterian Church.
For two weeks in July, the church ran its VBS with campers who went on adventures, made crafts, and sang songs while learning more about faith.
“Our main objective is to teach children about Jesus in a fun and interactive way so that they can build a strong relationship with God,” said Rebekah Dieleman, program director. “Another objective is to create a positive, supportive, and encouraging camp environment that’s adaptable and inclusive for the developmental needs of all our campers to allow all children in our community to attend camp.”
Dieleman, who is a Certified Child Life Specialist, says one of the most important aspects of the camp is ensuring all children who want to attend, can.
“Part of my role is making sure we are creating our camp programming to be adaptable and inclusive for the developmental needs of all our campers,” she said. “We train our staff to provide support one-on-one for children who do have special needs. That way we’re able to allow children that have different disabilities to attend our camp so that they get to experience summer camp.”
With the children at the camp ranging in age from four to 11, the programming gives them plenty of opportunity to get involved and have fun.
“We offer a couple different activities,” Dieleman explained. “In the morning we come together and have an opening and worship time where we listen to music, have fun skits, and learn the bible verse of the day. From there, the campers rotate through a couple different stations; they go to a game station, crafts, we added in science this year which has been a big hit, they do a bible story, and we also have a snack time. Throughout the week we have different theme days where they get to dress up and we have prizes.
"On a water day for example, we have all these different activities outside, and the kids have an opportunity to play with different age groups. And on our final day we always do a lot more bigger group programming with all our different age groups with different games, activities where they’re able to work with the leaders, and different team building activities.”
With a staff of four summer students (who will be going to help out at various camps in the region for the rest of the summer) and nine youth volunteers from the community, Dieleman points to teamwork as the key to managing the 30 campers.
“It’s very important to have a strong team, especially when working with a wide range of age groups and abilities,” she said. “Having a strong team to motivate each other and work collaboratively is so important, especially with this many kids. We have tons of leaders this year which is amazing, and it gives us better ratios from kids to staff so that kids can create better relationships with all of our leaders.”
For the staff, spending the summer working with children and helping them grow while getting to have fun is a rewarding experience that will stick with them forever.
“This is my fifth summer working in this program,” Dieleman says. “It’s something that I fell in love with my first year and I’m really grateful for the opportunity to get to continue working here, and all of my staff love coming back every single year.
"It’s a great opportunity to be a kid again and get into the music and activities while being silly. The kids love to interact with their older peers when they’re being silly and having fun. It’s a great experience and being able to work in a camp environment is just amazing.”
