SummerFest Fun – Be Strong!

Submitted by Tony…

Thank you for your prayers and support!  After a late night of preparation on Friday, SummerFest started yesterday with 74 second graders from Ruby Bridges Elementary School in Alameda and Garfield and Franklin Elementary Schools in Oakland.  With over 160 volunteers ranging from drivers, general helpers, videographers, photographers to classroom teachers, team leads, we were ready to receive these precious kids.  There were lots of smiles and high fives all around as kids were brought to our North Loop building by our very own friendliest transportation team of volunteers.  We started the day with some breakfast getting to know one another by teams and then they heard about what is in store for them in the next three sessions of SummerFest along with the rules at ImpACT.

After that off they went to classes where they got to touch a cow eye ball in Biology, make their own ice cream in Chemistry, build their own soon-to-be-completed new Bay Bridge (a miniature version of course), etc.  After class time it was time to make some melodies and play games.  They watched a funny intro video to our Large Group lesson time given by Mr. Joshua who taught us that life is a like a jungle and we all need a compass to help us point to the right way and we need to BE STRONG, being firmed to do the right thing.  Our theme this year is “Adventure” as we want to teach them three key things as getting through life can be a daunting adventure; that is to BE STRONG, BE FOCUSED and BE TOGETHER.

By the time lunch time came around and we went over the lesson by teams and were ready to say good bye, all the kids were warming up to us and many of them were excited to return on Monday.  Many kids were heard saying to one another how this is the best time they ever had, this is better then Chuck E. Cheese’s!  

One of the drivers shared this…

My heart was broken after doing rides today as I remembered that these kids grow up in really tough neighborhoods and often come from difficult backgrounds. In the morning I took three latino boys from Franklin Elementary to North Loop….

I drove three other kids home after summerfest who live in Alameda. Two of them were twin brothers whose family had just moved to Alameda from Oakland just a couple months ago. They live in Alameda Pointe where the old naval base is. I had been to this part of the island once before, but I had assumed that the dilapidated buildings I saw there were abandoned long ago when the base was shut down. It turns out that the kids in my car lived in those buildings. Through the course of the ride home, I found out that both of the boys’ parents are unemployed and they don’t have a working car. I never knew that there were parts of Alameda where people live in abject poverty.

Even though I only spent 20-30 minutes with these kids today, they really stole my heart. They were so enthusiastic about Impact, and I could tell by their interactions with me that they had already given their trust to their teachers and team leads. After I dropped off my kids, I couldn’t help but lift up a prayer for them, that the seeds of the gospel would be planted in their hearts and that we could develop a long-term relationship with them and teach them about their loving Heavenly Father. There are so many lies that they grow up around and so much brokenness in their neighborhoods, and it’s scary to think about the corrupting influences these innocent kids grow up around. My small interaction with them today reminded me why we do Impact and how important it is to continue to give this ministry our all. I’m so thankful that we’re doing this as a church.

Thank you again for your prayers and support.  We will post some pictures and video of the event soon.