Dear friends,
As I dropped my daughter at school earlier this week (she has only recently started to attend in person), I was struck by the normalcy of the scene, kids walking into a low, brick building. And then a moment later, I was struck by how surreal it was, the line of young people who would normally be gossiping and yelling instead quiet and masked.
I have been thinking a lot about how to support children everywhere who have been so affected, even traumatized, by this past year. There’s no magic wand to make it all better, and no single, grand gesture I can make to show my support. I realize that my work, as an adult, is to show up on reliable basis in the lives not only of my kids but of all the kids I can, in whatever ways I can.
Here’s a few ideas here at Grace to help support God’s children:
- Saturday, May 15 (as in tomorrow) is the J2A car wash, 9:00a.m. – 12:00pm in the Grace Church parking lot. Maybe you need to wash your car; maybe you don’t. But you definitely need to connect with the kids of this parish and show them that you care about them, and getting a sparkling windshield in the mix is a bonus.
- Sunday, May 16, at 10:30a.m., join Patti Culbreth, the Head of Grace Episcopal School, to learn how the school has managed the challenge of in-person education this year.
- Sunday, May 16, from 3-4:00p.m., the Sunday School teachers are holding an afternoon of fun in the playground behind the church, complete with tie-dyeing shirts and freeze pops to go. It’s for all kids—not just those who’ve been on Zoom for Sunday School. Are there kids in your care who need to know they are cared for? Bring them.
Do you have more ideas? I hope you do. Let me know—or talk to any one of our team leaders for Education and Youth (Lisa Bellantoni, Jenny Cline, Erin Kelly, and Bill Malone). They would love to hear from you. And so would I!
Yours in Christ,
Anne