The Kirkland Kernels Adventurer Club is starting its fourth year with 35 children and 10 staff. The club meets three times a month from September to May to learn about "My God, My World, My Family and My Self."
The club participates in the annual Adventurer Family Camp at Sunset Lake Camp in Wilkeson. Its community service activities include a toy drive, food drive, cleaning a church member’s yard and Praise Time at Madison House, a local retirement home.
The club was started by Deborah Raymond and Nita Koh in 2010 with the expectation that there would be about 10 members. God blessed the club’s first year with 34 members and 13 staff, making it the largest Adventurer club in the Pacific Northwest. The club had 47 members the second year and 38 the third.
Anyone can start a club like this. A few tips Kirkland staff found helpful include being enthusiastic and drawing in friends and acquaintances who are involved and enthusiastic, as well as enlisting additional volunteers to serve dinner before the meeting to get everyone there on time, ease parent responsibilities and create a more closely knit group.
This group accepts children ages 4 to 9, with parent participation. Adventurers is helpful in preparing children for Pathfinders, which begins at age 10.