By Pastor Beth Carroll
Necessity truly is the mother of invention. Hope Church youth have had just as much change in their lives as any adults, and they amaze with their ability to roll with the punches and make the best of not being able to be with their communities. Like most organizations, our youth programming was drastically changed in response to the quarantine. For the spring and first part of the summer, High Hopes and Fish Club discontinued in-person meetings. Instead, we moved our meetings to Zoom. The goals of our time “together” were to give them space to process aloud how all of the change has been going for them, to share a devotional together, to pray, and even to play a game each meeting, including a scavenger hunt.
The biggest challenge was what to do in lieu of our service and hiking trips; cancelling them both was such a disappointment. However, Fish Club and High Hopes decided to give a local “service trip” a go. We helped three organizations with projects. We organized Personal Protection Equipment kits for Lighthouse Immigrant Advocates to distribute to area migrant workers. (Thanks for your donations, Hope Church members!) Then, we weeded the memorial garden at Hope Church and cleared Buckthorn, an invasive species, at Riley Trails. We were busy that week, but we still made room for a frozen yogurt trip, a game of Hide and Seek at Centennial Park, and even fun with water balloons and Super Soakers in the Hope Church parking lot! This summer was not what we planned, but it was still memorable, meaningful, and fun.