In the coming weeks, Adventurer Clubs across the Oregon Conference will introduce a project for 2009, targeting disadvantaged children both stateside and in developing countries.
Angelina Wood, Oregon Conference Adventurer ministry director and children’s ministries associate director, explains, “Often children do not realize how ‘rich’ they really are, as most children in developing nations have never owned even one toy, and do not own shoes. These children live in a home without a bed, without electricity, and without running water. Many do not even have a home with a roof over their heads, and most do not have enough food in their homes to last three days.”
The Kids in Action project will be focused on helping Adventurer-age children learn how they can get involved in serving others. Adventurer clubs will be learning how to serve their families, communities and world. They will participate in service and will learn the culture of serving.
An Adventurer group in McMinnville, Ore., has already begun by working with Samaritan’s Purse to fill shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child, a project that sends boxes to children in desperate situations around the world.
Kids in Action will reach its conclusion during the annual Oregon Conference Adventurer Club Family Camp (May 29–31, 2009) at the Gladstone Park Campgrounds. Children will work with their parents through a number of stations, highlighting how kids can become involved in service. Adventurers will bring their donations of food (dry rice and beans), clothing (shoes, socks, underwear, toothbrushes, toothpaste and combs) and prepare care boxes for children in Mexico, Romania, Nicaragua, Guatemala, India, Congo, Dominican Republic and Thailand.
To deliver Adventurer club donations abroad, the Oregon Conference has partnered with International Children's Care. ICC works on behalf of orphaned, abandoned and needy children worldwide as a private relief and development organization. As an internationally recognized non-governmental organization, ICC understands children are the future leaders and citizens of this world and of Heaven. The ICC philosophy is that each child should grow up in a "real home."
“We hope that children will begin to recognize their role as the hands of Jesus in this world, with a lifelong heart for service and mission.” explains Wood.
Adventurers participate in the Adventurer Family Camp festivities. (Gary McLain)
Little shoes pile up during an Adventurer Club meeting.
