The Sounds of Summer: A Church Filled with Children

Project Transformation, an educational day camp for kids, started this week at Chapel Hill UMC. This program connects three important groups: children, college students and churches. We welcomed 65 campers who will be with us Monday through Thursday, 9:00-3:00, through July 27. We have 6 interns who are college students, and a previous intern who has joined us again this summer to work with our Diaconal Minister of Outreach administering the program. Literally hundreds of volunteers from this church and other UMCs serve as cooks, greeters, and reading listeners. The children are served breakfast, lunch and snacks. This program is one of only 13 in the state of Oklahoma. The improved literacy and social interaction is phenominal. After over a decade of offering this unique summer program, we know that the campers maintain or improve their literacy. The interaction between the interns, the volunteers, the children AND the families is also a win. The halls are filled with the campers as they move through their rotations of the day: reading to volunteer listeners, participating in science projects, art and play. Through the summer they will also enjoy a couple of field trips which in the past have included trips to the zoo, bowling, swimming, museums. It's an adventure and we love being surrounded by the happy sounds of children and adults learning!