By CRIS
Community Resources for Independent Seniors
During the month of August 2018, several CRIS TimeBank members were happy to share their knowledge in crafting with some of the youth attending the Caz Summer Youth Rec Program.
As reported in the Republican earlier this year, many changes were made in the program for 2018. It shows. Youth were given an overview of the day at their morning meeting and teen counselors were ready to greet us when we arrived.
Three workshops were taught over three consecutive weeks: card making and stamping by Beth Sell, fairy houses and pendants by Laura Hackney and paper crafting by Linda Sullivan. All three workshops were coordinated and assisted by TimeBank Coordinator Mary Bartlett.
“It was so much fun to be with the children who were very respectful and interested in learning the different crafts,” Bartlett said.
Since youth participants chose their activities, there were little if any behavioral problems in the crafting workshops. Of the three workshops, making the fairy houses was the most popular. Children were fully engaged and especially fascinated with constructing and embellishing the little wooden houses made out of bark.
All the TimeBank volunteers were impressed with the youth and the additional activities going on at the same time. What a great thing to see sack races, tug of war, dodge ball and playground time. As TimeBank Volunteer Laura Hackney put it, “It is so much fun to see all this life and activity going on, and I’m not in charge of it all!”
On our last day with kids from Caz Youth rec we mad paper fans and frogs. We had a wonderful time. Fun project, great group of youth — kudos to the program leaders. We hope to continue this partnership for many years to come.
