We’re excited about our upcoming Summer events for kids. We look forward to seeing you and your kids at some or all of these activities. We will announce more details soon, but here’s some information to put in your calendar.

Westside Kids Outside Play Day

Wednesday, July 13 1:00-3:00pm

Free event with games, water play, frozen treats and fun for kids entering grades 1-5 in the fall.

Art Camp

Aug 9th 9:00 am-Noon

The Westside Art Camp is a free half day camp for kids entering grades 1-12 in the fall. We will offer classes that are age and stage appropriate for kids of all skill levels. There will be an all group gathering to start the day and then off to age and stage appropriate classes.

Westside Family Fest

August 16

Westside Family Festival is an evening event to engage and include the whole family. Carnival style, family fun.

Foursquare International has provided a great resource for families who want to go through the 21 Days of Prayer together. We’re on day two, but you can join any time. We’ve included the packet for families here. Check out https://www.foursquare.org/events/21-days-of-prayer for more resources.

This is a great opportunity to learn about prayer as a family, to read scripture, to share, and to have a family moment.

We’re excited to share with you an advent for December 2021. We hope you’ll take some time as a family to talk about the Christmas story, to make memories and maybe even create some new traditions. We’ve included lots of fun ideas for the holiday season. We’d love to see photos and hear stories about your advent adventures.

Merry Christmas from the Westside Family Team!

Are you interested in Fostering and becoming a resource for kids in care? Want to learn more about the process? Join us for a casual conversation around fostering with a panel that can help answer your questions. Wednesday October 13th from 6 to 8 in the 1st-3rd Grade classroom. To Register go to https://thecontingent.microsoftcrmportals.com/upcoming-event/event-detail/?id=40e60c7f-955c-4cce-8f75-7e65a8bbab63

Are you curious what young people are experiencing and feeling right now?

I’ve noticed some very interesting trends and common feelings in the past year from the young people I mentor. This talk is a collection of what they’ve been saying.

Westside Family Pastor Josh Cordell also has a coaching/mentoring business where he meets with as many as 30 young people one-on-one in a week. They talk about goal setting, what’s working and what’s not. They build trust and open communication.

Wednesday, August 11th. 7-8pm at Westside Church. Free. Child Care provided.

Thank you so for helping making Art Camp 2021 a great success! We had so much fun exploring creativity and art with kids from Grades 1 – 12. We had some wonderful local artists give of their time and talent, sharing their love of creating with students. The middle and high school kids learned painting techniques from local artist, Zach Filkins. Grade school kids had fun sculpting with Lexie Miller, a local author and illustrator. Grade school kids also got to create a mixed media canvas with local artist, Melissa Blackett.

We had an amazing group of volunteers who helped to create an amazing art experience for the students. We’re thankful for the great feedback we’ve received from kids and parents alike. One 7 year old said, “This has opened up a whole new world for me!”

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It’s our desire to make sure kids know that they were created by the Creator, to create! We look forward to hosting art events in the future to keep students and families inspired to create and make throughout their whole lives.

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We’re excited to be involved in supporting Foster Families and Foster Kids here at Westside. There are multiple ways to get involved as a family. Foster Family Appreciation and The Birthday Club, as well as attending information meetings about supporting foster kids or exploring fostering as a family. Your family can help create great birthday memories through The Birthday Club or offer much-needed support and encouragement through Foster Family Appreciation.

Let’s help every child experience family by expanding our own hearts to include children in the foster care system.

You can find information about all these opportunities HERE.

Thank you to all the families who came and created Care Packs for the homeless at our Family Outreach Event on Saturday.

It was wonderful to see the creativity and love that went into making cards that were included in all of the Care Packs. The group put together over 400 Care Packs! Half are going to the Warming Shelters, with the other half sent home with these awesome families to hand out to people in need. Way to go, Westside Families!

Our Donation Drive this week for cold weather gear also was a huge success! All supplies collected will be donated to local Warming Shelters serving our community this winter.

Thank you, Westsiders, for your love, care, and generosity to our community!

Josh Cordell, our Westside Family Pastor, reported the following,

“We hosted a beautiful event at Westside Church on Saturday. We had around 30 families come put together care packages for the homeless in our area. Included in the package was a cute card, colored on one side with a handwritten note or encouraging word on the other side.

A seven-year old told me, “It feels good to help people.” Isn’t that the truth!

One family told me that their six-year old, on a recently cold day, had pointed out how she felt bad for homeless people having to deal with the weather. That same day they received the email about this event.”

It was so good to see families serving together. One of the best things was a family with three teenagers all sitting together coloring their cards… and loving it!

Stay tuned for more impacting Family events to come!

Are you interested in learning more about foster care and ways you could get involved? Join Westside Family Pastor Josh Cordell tonight as he and a panel share information and answer questions about fostering in this virtual discussion. https://fb.me/e/6pO5YoGJq

Westside families, my hope and prayer is that you are all doing well. Please know that our Children’s Ministry Team really misses seeing you and your kids! This is a unique and challenging time but know that our team continually lifts you all up in prayer. We look forward to the time when we can safely gather together again.

During the Covid pandemic our Westside Kids Team has been continually looking for new and creative ways to reach out to you from a distance. Josh Cordell, Westside’s Family Pastor, has brought great vision, direction and fresh ideas as he now oversees Kids Ministry. We’re so blessed to have him leading our Team!

One of the ways we are reaching out to you is through our online Kids Church on the Westside website. I hope your kids (and you!) are enjoying watching the videos! Each week through Orange Kids curriculum you’re provided with fresh and engaging Bible truths for each age group. So if you have a Preschooler, Grade Schooler or Preteen in your family or Home Church, it’s all there for you!

Along with the weekly videos I would like to extend an opportunity for you to include a simple, easy to do (emphasis on easy to do) written lesson outline that goes along with what is provided online. In each lesson outline you’ll find interactive activities, simple craft ideas and Bible Story/Memory Verse review. I believe this is a great tool along with the videos to create a better at home Kids Ministry experience for your children!

If you’re interested in receiving the lesson outline’s please email me back with the ages of the kids in your family or Home Church, and I’ll send you the age-appropriate lesson/lessons. I hope to hear from you!

Blessings to you all,

Joanie Morelock
jmorelock@westsidechurch.org