By Carrie McLendon

The Vine Church in Troy will be hosting a Kids Camp this July with the theme “Follow Me.”

The camp will be held once a week on July 9, 16 and 23 at 5:30 p.m. and is open to all kids aged 4-12. The final Wednesday of the month, July 30, will be family night at 6:00 p.m.

Participating children will be involved in various Christian-based learning and activities.

The theme, “Follow Me” is about exploring what it means to follow Jesus and it is based on scripture about the Great Commission. The scripture that will be studied is Matthew 28:16-20.

Each day, the campers will be fed dinner and the camp will start with an opening skit and a song. From there, children will divide out by age and rotate through an activity room, a mission-focused room and a worship room. 

In the mission-focused room, children will have the chance to connect with a missionary in Honduras who they will be supporting through regular donations. The donations will support a non-profit Christian high school called Instituto El Rey. The school aims to provide a high-quality education to youth in rural northern Honduras.

Mary Alice Helms, Children’s Director at Vine Church, shared her hopes for the camp.

“The overall goal is for each one, not just the kids, but the volunteers that are there also to experience Jesus in a new way,” she said.

Helms also shared her favorite part of being involved with the camp.

“It is definitely a labor of love to put this all together and to see the kids enjoy it and a lot of times during the camp to see the lightbulb go off,” she said.

Vine Church will also be opening a new childcare center later in the summer on August 4.

For the full-time daycare, the Vine Church Childcare Center will care for infants six weeks to age three, Monday through Friday from 7:15 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. They will also offer after school care where parents can sign up to have their children picked up from Troy Elementary.

As it is a Christian program, children will learn about Jesus and attend chapel once a week along with their regular lessons. Another service that will be available is care during school holidays for students in kindergarten through sixth grade.

“We are also going to be open on more school holidays like Columbus Day and Veterans Day,” said Helms. “We really see a need where parents still have to work on those days when their elementary kids are out of school and have to find childcare.”

On these days, Vine Church will offer drop-in days where parents can pay $50 for single-day care. Students will get breakfast and lunch and participate in various activities throughout the day including movie time.

Registration for the camp will be available until the final day of the camp. Anyone interested in registering can visit https://thevinetroy.breezechms.com/form/vinekidscamp2454.

To stay updated with VIne Church and their upcoming childcare center, visit their website https://thevinetroy.com/ or follow Vine Church on Facebook.