HOPE MELBOURNE - BORN TO FLY CHILDREN HOLIDAY PROGRAM

The community arm of Hope Melbourne (Waverley) church, Hands of Hope, organized a free 3-day holiday program entitled Born To Fly (BTF) for children between the ages of 5 -10 from the 3rd to 5th of Oct 2013 held at the Brandon Park Community Centre, Glen Waverley. The purpose of the program was on character building with a focus on ‘Attentiveness’ and ‘Creativity’.

The aim of the event was to:

• Bless families within the Waverley community with a healthy option for a children holiday program. 
• Outreach to the families in attendance about church service and other special events. 

The event was attended by an average of 55 volunteers in total at an average of 35 volunteers per day. The average number of children for each day was 135 children. Day 1 of BTF was focused on ’Attentiveness’, Day 2 was focused on ‘Creativity’, Day 3 combined ‘Attentiveness and Creativity’. Day 1 and 2 encompassed puppetry and skit performances, all-in games, crafts, songs and actions, movie and quiz time and character-enforcing verses.

Day 3 included all of the above except the craft and movie activities. Children were grouped together in groups of 10 with 2 volunteers for all 3 days, based on the age group of the children. Parents/Guardians of the children attended day 3 which started with light refreshments followed by performances of songs, recital of character enforcing verses, award ceremonies for attendance and character development and a short speech by the councillor of City of Monash.

Written by Jeremy Ng, Hope Melbourne - Waverley