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Vacation Bible School at Hunter gets volunteer boost

By: Nancy Gould (FRONTLINE NEWS ARTICLE 30 JUNE 2011)

Hunter Army Airfield Public Affairs

Hunter Chapel got some unexpected assistance with this year’s Vacation
Bible School program, June 20-24. Ten teen girls from the First Baptist
Church in Lewisville, Texas with the Voice of Praise Choir showed up
for the week, as part of their own ministry, to assist with activities for
children in kindergarten through sixth grade. Others in their 118-
member choir worked during the week at two Savannah sports camps;
the entire group performed at various locations around Savannah each
evening, including a performance at the Hunter Chapel on Thursday
morning. “We do a mission tour every summer,” said Robin Woodby, a
choir sponsor who escorted the girls and also helped with Vacation Bible
School activities at Hunter Chapel. “They learn the importance of
serving others, even when the temperature is hot outside, like it is
today.”

Fortunately, the 70 children participating in the VBS program performed
all outside activities under the large shade tree on the chapel grounds.
Throughout the week, choir and chapel volunteers used Bible studies,
crafts, music, and outdoor activities to help reinforce each day’s theme,
according to Charles Archer, director of religious education at the
chapel. Those themes included: Connect with faith, Monday; Connect
with love, Tuesday; Connect with life, Wednesday; Connect with others,
Thursday and Connect with God, Friday. Archer said all activities were
designed as object lessons for the children, reinforcing each day’s
theme. “The kids have had a lot of fun this week,” he said. “We
appreciate all the volunteers – those from the chapel and the Voice of
Praise. The teens outside the gates connect with our kids a little
differently from those in the military community,” he said. “They
exchange ideas and have conversations that help reinforce the
importance of our themes.”

Andrea Calhoun, a senior volunteer with the Voice of Praise used a tugof
war competition as a segue to tell fifth graders the importance of
‘pulling’ for your friends and pulling them toward God. “I love playing
with these kids and talking to them,” she said. “Games give us a
different way to teach kids how to live out God’s love.”
Dawn Keim, a VBS volunteer and parent of a child in the program,
appreciates the different approach used to teach Bible lessons to her 7-
year-old daughter throughout the week. “At church, she normally hears
adult language about God,” she said. “This week she’s learning about
God on her level and how to relate to and serve him on a daily basis in
her own way.”