Today was our last day at the children’s home. It was a day of final preparations, packing and cleaning. It was a day of group activities. And… it was Christmas in July!
Today kids who have never seen snow made snow in the STEM station. Each group in music went out and caroled one of the other stations then came back to the music area for Christmas karaoke. The art station made snowmen and decorated cut out Christmas trees. Each child got a pair of fun Christmas glasses to wear around. Cotton “snowballs”were used to stage snowball fights. The whole feeling of the morning was very Christmasy.
In the afternoon we played an all camp kickball game. Kids who hadn’t been very involved in the afternoon optional PE activities all played together and cheered one another on. Kids received their athletic shoes and sporting equipment and we had a visit from the coach who leads the local youth athletic association who received what the home could not use (thank you FONA supporters for the absolute bounty of athletic equipment you donated!). While she was there Coach Mary pulled together a pick up “boys vs girls” soccer match on the home’s new pitch, and recruited a couple new players for the local rec league.
At closing circle for the day each child received a set of jingle bell bracelets and the group was told how much we were going to miss them. Finally each child received a drawstring bag with several small gifts – sunglasses, age appropriate books, etc. They weren’t expecting more surprises so this final surprise really hit them.
Then came the hard part. The hardest part. Jenny had instructed us not to cry, so we wouldn’t make the kids sad. That went right out the window. Kids and adults (FONA adults and GBCH staff) were bawling and hugging one another. When we finally boarded the bus to head out the kids were lined up against the fence waving goodbye. Over dinner all the travelers seemed to ask the same question: when are we coming back?
