Detroit Hope Summer Camp
by Rachel Blakesley
The past five weeks at Detroit Hope have been a whirlwind of fun, games, food, learning, and laughter, and there's still one week left!
With 82 kids and teenagers on the attendance sheets, it certainly has felt like a whirlwind. We start each morning out with a Peacemaking class and lunch that is provided by Restoration Towers. Then we split up into Drama, Dance, and Cooking classes. Each of these classes is taught by community volunteers that have graciously given the bulk of their summer to help the neighborhood kids. One of them is a wonderful intern, Ciemantha Stubblefield, who came all the way from Oklahoma to help us out this summer!
In the Drama class, we have been learning about controlling our emotions, creative thinking, and other performance skills. We should record some of the skits the campers have come up with because they will keep campfire goers laughing for years. The Dance class has been working hard on a routine to share with us at the end of the camp.
Some of the staff are going to take the Dance class, but we will have to wait until the campers aren't around or the 11 year olds will show us up! For now, we like to help out with the Cooking class so we can have smoothies, banana pudding, stir-fry, and many other tasty treats. After those classes, the campers enjoy past times such as dodge ball, baseball, and kickball during Recreation.
We settle down in Arts and Crafts and make construction paper masterpieces, t-shirt treasures, and awesome clay creations. The day ends with some computer training and great snacks. Every two weeks we go on an awesome field trip – we've been to Crossroad Village and the Detroit Zoo already!
All of this is made possible by an Old Newsboys Goodfellows Grant. Huge thanks go out to them!
New contacts through the camp gave us a record number of 42 people at Pizza Church on Wednesday night. Yay, God! We have been very blessed this summer and many persons’ lives have been touched.
The camp is almost over but we have activities here at Detroit Hope almost every day throughout the year. Call Pastor Jacob Blakesley at 313-515-8955 and join us in the transforming of lives. Who knows, you may even be the one who is transformed!