Saint Paul Lutheran Church will be offering a new childcare opportunity during the remaining early-out days for Mount Vernon Schools.
Tara Darling, Christian life director for the church, said the item came about following discussions on childcare needs in the community.
“One of our members, Olivia Randall, was invited to the League of Women Voters’ discussion on childcare needs in our community. She brought the information she gleaned from this discussion to some of the other church leaders, and has continued to be a leader in this project. We are not in a position to offer a full-fledged childcare right now, but we have a wonderful facility that sits empty for much of the week, and we have some top-notch volunteers who love to serve God’s children,” Darling said. “When looking at the school calendars, five early dismissal days for the second half of the school year seemed like something we could handle, and would serve as a good test of whether or not to expand the program in the future.”
Darling said that the program is designed for students in kindergarten through sixth grade, with some of the older youth of Saint Paul’s participating as volunteers.
Darling said while they do not anticipate a limit to specific grades, the program will be capped at 40 students for each event.
With this being a test case, shesaid that the church is looking to see how things go this year and possibly expand the program at the beginning of next school year if it is successful.
“We were hesitant to commit to too many dates without knowing how many students to expect, or whether our volunteers were up for a larger commitment,” Darling said. “If there is enough interest, and if we have the support of adults willing to serve more often, we will definitely consider expanding the program to include more, if not all, of the early dismissal days for next school year.”
Darling said the main goal of the program is to share the love of Jesus with children while at the same time serving families in the community by providing a free, safe space for kids to remain on early out school days.
“Children do not need to attend our church or have all of the same beliefs as we do to participate, but we will definitely be sharing our faith as we serve,” Darling said.
As well, children do not have to attend every early out day at the church.
“Though we hope that students will be able to join us consistently, it is not required that they participate in every single offering,” Darling said. “We understand that schedules may vary, so we plan to follow up with registered families the week prior to each early-out to verify who will be attending, to plan for volunteers needed, snack preparations, and materials for activities, and to ensure that our sign-in and sign-out procedures run smoothly.”
Darling said the church has funding from Thrivent Financial this year to help cover expenses.
“If we do expand the program next year, it is likely that we will help to cover expenses for snack items and other materials that could be donated by anyone in the community,” Darling said.
She said that they are also looking to offer transportation from Lisbon Schools to the church location for childcare on those early out days.
All of the information and the registration form can be found on the Early-Out page on their website: https://christsloveinaction.org/earlyout-program
Saint Paul Lutheran Church offering childcare on early out school days
February 2, 2023
About the Contributor
Nathan Countryman, Editor
Nathan Countryman is the Editor of the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun.