Tag Archives: students

Wildside Kick’s Off Another Summer of Adventure!

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On May 14th Wildside hosted it’s annual Camp Wild Kick-Off Party! They had 54 kids join for an evening of Jesus, fun, games, and food.

Every month during the school year Wildside hosts themed parties for kids ages 5-12 in Hagerstown. The Camp Wild Kick-Off Party is the final party of the season, but obviously, a celebration of the upcoming summer camp season which starts in July!!

The Camp Wild Kick-Off Party is always a crowd favorite because it’s another sign that the school year is coming to an end and it builds the excitement for another summer of fun at Camp Wild!

The evening started off with one of the kids’ favorite activities: dodgeball!

Following the huge game of dodgeball, everyone came together to enjoy some music and an interactive Bible lesson. The lesson time started with a song that the Wildside kids love, “Take it All” by Hillsong Kids. Following the music everyone jumped right into the lesson “Livin’ the Good Life”. The lesson is part of a series teaching the kids how to resolve conflict and live peacefully with God and each other. The kids learned that in order to resolve their personal conflicts they must state the problem, listen to the other person, and look for the solution. They learned that our greatest problem is our sin, that we need to listen to Jesus, and that He is the solution to our sin problem.

After the message, one of the Wildside kids, Aleshia, wowed everyone by reciting 10 Bible verses she had memorized in school! This passage of scripture told the story of Thomas doubting and then believing in the resurrected Jesus. How awesome to see so much scripture memorized by such a young lady.

Following the lesson time, the kids were able to spend their Bear Bucks at the Marketplace, play one of our carnival-style games, and eat dinner. Each of the carnival games was themed after camp. This summer, campers will travel to Latin America and explore God’s diverse array of people, cultures, animals, and environments.

Wildside ended the evening with a small dodgeball competition. We had twenty kids join the competition to battle it out for the winning title and the prize. After awarding the winners with Hershey bars and certificates, we handed out some prizes for a few well behaved children who stood out to the staff.

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Even though Wildside has wrapped up their parties for this school year, there’s still so much more fun planned for 2019. The fun continues this summer at Camp Wild! Camp Wild is an exciting, free day camp for kids ages 5-12. Registration is now open so don’t wait to sign your kids up for Camp Wild 2019. To learn more go to http://www.campwildusa.com.

If you would like to help volunteer at Camp Wild this year please contact us as soon as possible by calling 301.739.1165 or emailing info@wildsideyouth.com.

Wildside’s Birthday Bash Kicks Off the Party Season!

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Imagine one giant party to celebrate everyone’s birthday. Sounds kinda wild, doesn’t it? Well Wildside Youth Ministries likes to do things a little different so they kicked off their school year party season with a huge birthday party celebration!

All the kids who attended the Birthday Bash on September 25th were able to celebrate their birthday. Each month was given a celebration and no one was left out of the fun! 52 kids ages 5-12 attended the first Wildside party of the season where they played birthday themed carnival games, painted faces, made crafts and enjoyed some great food.

But the most important part of the evening was learning about having the most important birthday: a spiritual birthday. The kids in attendance learned all about the importance of being born again and following Jesus.

Wildside is the youth ministry at The Hope Center. In addition to monthly large event parties during the school year, Wildside hosts Sunday Night Wild on select Sunday evenings during the school year as well as The Crew which is the student leadership development program for older kids in the program. And each summer Wildside hosts Camp Wild, a free day camp for kids in July & August. All Wildside activities are free for kids ages 5-12. Learn more about Wildside and upcoming events by visiting http://www.wildsideyouth.com.

Your financial donations to The Hope Center help fund these important activities for kids in Hagerstown. We are able to keep Wildside and our other programs and services for free for our guests because of generous and faithful supporters in our community. Thank you for your support of The Hope Center as we continue to reach everyone in our community – even kids – for Christ!

Want to learn more about donating or volunteering at The Hope Center? Go to http://www.hagerstownhopecenter.com to get all the info you need on how to become a partner with us.

Youth for Christ Club Serves Christmas Cheer!

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On Saturday, December 9th some students from the Youth for Christ Club at Barbara Ingram School for the Arts provided a dinner and service for our evening guests!

The students brought chicken, provided by Brownsville Church of the Brethren and Bonnie’s at the Red Byrd. In addition to the chicken, the students had mac & cheese and delicious desserts for all of our community guests. The incredible folks at Brownsville Church of the Brethren also made goodie bags for the students to hand out to all the evening guests.

During the evening service the students led music for our guests and Bethany Norris gave a message. Following the service the students served the food they prepared and spent the evening interacting with the dinner guests.

The student volunteers had such a good time serving that several of them even commented that they couldn’t think of a better way to spend their Saturday evening. They’re hoping, and we are too, that they will be able to return in February to serve again.

If you remember, the Youth for Christ Club at BISFA hosted a benefit concert for The Hope Center back in the fall. They raised financial support for our ministry and then they followed that up with an evening of service to others. What an incredible group of young people who are showing God’s love in so many ways and using their talents and gifts to help better our community! We are just so thankful for these young people and all they’re doing to make a positive difference in our community!

Thank you Youth for Christ Club at BISFA, Brownsville Church of the Brethren, and everyone else who helped to make this a great evening for our guests!

To learn more about Brownsville Church of the Brethren visit http://www.brownsvillecob.org.

Local Students Lend a Hand for Camp Wild

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We love our volunteers! From helping to paint buildings, to cleaning vans and windows, to helping prepare meals and fill bags for our food bank, volunteers really help relieve a major burden of work at The Hope Center.
And when young people come to volunteer at The Hope Center, it’s a very special thing. When young people are given the chance to volunteer to help others, their lives and outlook on life changes.
That’s why we were so happy to have three students from Stone Bridge Academy stop by The Hope Center and help prepare the outdoor facilities for Camp Wild.
But what makes this so special is that one of our former Camp Wild leaders was the teacher who brought the students to volunteer.
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Christy White has been a volunteer at Wildside Youth, the children’s ministry at The Hope Center which hosts Camp Wild, for years. She’s been a leader during after-school parties and a counselor at Camp Wild for many years.
She knows the amount of work that goes into preparing and running Camp Wild and she wanted to bring some students who could help with manual labor and learn something in the process.
These students helped paint the playground set, clear brush, and assist in setting the flag poles in cement in preparation for the upcoming Camp Wild season.
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When asked why they wanted to come out and volunteer, each replied that they genuinely enjoy helping others.  They were excited to help, knowing that kids, like themselves, would benefit from the camp this summer.
One student is a former Camp Wild camper and appreciates what Camp Wild has to offer.  She stated that Camp Wild is a good place to go for local kids, because it keeps them out of trouble.  She liked learning about God and really connected to last year’s theme of learning about what God has planned for your life, memorizing Jeremiah 29:11.
After the group was finished working for the day, they received a tour of the grounds from Wildside Youth director, Adrian Black.  The students were excited to hear about the new attractions coming this year and for the next years to come.  Each girl is looking forward to coming back and to further help in projects leading up to camp’s first week in July.  They also hope to come back as camp volunteers and experience all Camp Wild has to offer.
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Christy was so encouraged in seeing how excited her students were in coming out on a hot summer day to haul buckets of water and be willing to get a little paint on themselves, and being genuinely excited for the kids who will benefit from having their facilities upgraded.  It was great seeing them working so hard and not wanting to stop until the work was finished.
We are always thankful for volunteers! If you would like to get involved as an individual or bring a group, just call 301.739.1165 or email us at hagerstownrescue@verizon.net. If you are interested in volunteering at Camp Wild this summer, please call immediately! There are only a few short weeks left before Camp Wild kicks off for 2013.
To learn more about Camp Wild, go to www.campwildusa.com.