Kids Care Camp at Cape Elizabeth Methodist Church

The Cape Elizabeth Kids Care Club was started a couple of years ago, when they decided to run a week of projects at their church to reach out to their community. Here is how they set up and ran their Kids Care Camp.

As the sponsoring organization for Kids Care Camp, the Cape Elizabeth United Methodist Church provides a unique opportunity for children between the ages of 5 and 12 to attend camp while serving the community. Kids Care Camp focuses on age appropriate projects to help the less fortunate in their community. Some of the projects are bean bags for Ronald MacDonald House, activity kits, texture boards for the visually impaired, wooden blocks for children and "Friendship Boxes" filled with encouraging thoughts for the Viking Crescent Nursing Home. The camp which is held at the Cape Elizabeth Methodist Church runs Monday through Thursday from 9:00 AM - 11:30 AM and includes snack and playtime. Friday is delivery day. The cost is enthusiasm plus a non-perishable food item per child for the week. The space is limited to forty children.

The weekly schedule (with assigned rooms) is as follows:

During the week, the children meet daily from 9:30-11:30 a.m. and rotate through each of the activity rooms. But first, The day begins with a food collection for a designated local organization and is followed by a brief circle time in which the kids share something for which they are thankful. Then the forty children are divided into three groups and are rotated between three activity rooms.

The daily schedule is as follows:

After completing something to give, children are always able to make an additional item for themselves. The last day of camp the children are again separated into groups and driven by parent volunteers to deliver the items they have worked on and the food donation.

A Kids Care Club ice cream social and children's art sale is held during the week. Invitations are sent to social service organizations, family, and friends of the community.