Recreation VBS 2019 is happening July 29 - August 2, 2019 at

College Avenue  Presbyterian Church of Oakland.

2019 PRE-CAMP INFO & NEWS

CAMP STARTS ON MONDAY JULY 29!  
Here's some information to help you and your camper be ready!
 

Recreation VBS 2019 | July 29-August 2 | 9am-3pm  
at College Avenue Presbyterian Church
5951 College, Oakland 94618
(510) 658-3665 (office)
www.capcoakland.org

If you need to contact us during the day
please contact or text Monte via his cell phone
at (510) 520-0746.
You will  receive an electronic confirmation
of the registration of your camper(s)/CIT(s) upon your registration.

If you haven't please contact Monte immediately at montemcclain@gmail.com

DAILY UPDATES
Each day you'll receive an electronic update (in the same format as this one) about the events of the day as well as helpful reminders for the next day.
They'll also include some suggested discussion questions to empower you to talk with your camper(s) about what they're doing at camp and hopefully to have conversation about ethics, art, community service and our great city of Oakland.

Daily updates will come to your cell phone or email from recreationvbs@gmail.com via the REMIND app and might appear in Gmail formats under "promotions"

Camp is taking place at College Avenue Presbyterian Church
located along College Avenue in the Rockridge District of Oakland.
Parking along College Avenue is metered.  Be careful they do check regularly!
Side street parking (Harwood, Chabot) is free for 2 hours at a time.

Here's how you can help make arrivals and departures smooth and safe!

Art Classes in 2019

This year we're offering three the morning art classes.  Each class is for two days.  Friday is a unique camp-wide art project.  Below are brief descriptions of each class.    Each class is two days, so each camper will get to do 2 of the 3 classes.  Classes are limited to 20 campers.

Portraits of Home: illustrated haikus

The Home of Coffee: Global Consciousness, and Personal Agency

World-Making using paper mache to reflect on our notions of HOME.

Here's how you can help make arrivals and departures smooth and safe!

DROP OFF
MONDAY MORNING
Registration on the first day will take place on the church campus.  Registration tables and counselors will be present on the sidewalk to welcome you and your campers.

If you haven't yet filled out or submitted the necessary registration paperwork, medical and media releases, or paid your balance, you must do that Monday morning.

STARTING TUESDAY MORNING - CURBSIDE DROP OFF
We will have a drop off station set up in front of the church along College Avenue beginning Tuesday morning.  You need to sign in your campers, or they can sign themselves in, before entering the building.
 
PICK UP
 
We ask that you park and walk into the church campus to pick up your camper(s) at  3pm.  Don't forget to sign them out. This is one of the ways that we keep track of everyone so we don't lose any campers.  Thanks for your help!
 
YOU'RE WELCOME TO COME ON IN!
 
You are more than welcome to stay a bit and check out camp, or accompany any anxious campers at the beginning of the day.  
 
 
PARKING
 
The church does not have a parking lot.  There is ample parking along College Avenue which is metered.  Be careful they do check regularly! Side street parking (Harwood, Chabot) is free for 2 hours at a time.

Daily Camp Spirit Theme Days

Life is just more fun in a costume! Your camper is invited to come to camp dressed as they like according to our daily themes.

 Monday :: "Monochromatic" :: Dress in one color!  Your choice.

Tuesday :: "Hero(ine) Day” :: Dress as your hero(ine) - it could be a real or make-believe person! 

Wednesday :: "Crazy Hair Day” :: Get CRAZY CREATIVE!

Thursday :: "Halloween" :: Halloween should be more than once a year!  Here's your chance!  Dress as you want.

Friday :: "Oakland Pride Day” ::  Dress Oakland style to show off your love of our Town.

LUNCH & FOOD

Recreation VBS has gone green!  This year all of the materials that we’ll use (paper plates, silverware and cups) are compostable.  This reflects our ongoing mission to be good neighbors in our city and to empower your camper to do the same.

This year lunches are included in the price of camp,  as well as daily snack times in the morning and afternoon (with food and drinks). We try to use quality real foods, avoiding Hydrogenated Fats and reducing industrial processed foods. AND we're also limited by our budgets. Within those parameters, we aim to offer quality, fun, tasty food. We offer fruits and/or vegetables at every snack time. If your camper has special food allergies please be sure to tell us at registration on Monday (if you haven’t already told us about it in our registration form). If you have other food-related concerns please talk with Monte directly by phone or email.

SERVICE-LEARNING & COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECTS:

We are looking for local non-profits to partner with this summer.

This year we're partnering with:

• Friends of Hardy Park (Frog Park)

• Rockridge District Association

• Local efforts to promote community through public art

• the Friday Night Meal at College Avenue Presbyterian Church

• Oakland Unified School District

Shop with your campers to teach them about neighborly love in action:

We’re providing 34 backpacks for a local OUSD elementary school. Our project is to supply and stuff 34 backpacks with school supplies for children. Your registration fees are covering the cost of the backpacks. If you would like to shop with your campers to find school supplies (and involve them in this concrete service experience of loving your neighbor) you can do so using the list below.. There are currently radical sales on school supplies at many stores including Office Depot and Target. You will need to send in anything that you purchase at the latest by Thursday of the week of camp. That’s the day we’ll pack up the backpacks.

Here’s a list identified school supply needs: Pencil boxes, pencils, pencil sharpeners, crayons, notebooks, binders scissors

Rockridge Area Clean-Up – work on Monday

Tuesday we’ll work in teams to collect trash and beautify the Rockridge Business Association area. This annual project is one that brings great joy and elicits a collaborative spirit of competition as we see what teams can collect the most trash.

Hardy Park – work on Wednesday or Thursday

Wednesday or Thursday we’re working at Hardy Park (Frog Park). We will walk down and back to the park (about 10- 15 minutes). While there we’ll work with the non-profit that maintains the beauty and safety of the park. Our work will include: raking, sweeping, trash pickup and other potential work. It’s always a great opportunity to see what our campers can do together! The Friends of Hardy Park are annually in awe of how much 60 young campers can accomplish. They supply gloves and all the tools that we’ll need.

Temporary Public Art Installation – Friday Afternoon

Friday we’re creating a temporary public art installation to promote conversation and reflection in Rockridge around the theme of community.  We’ll work on our artwork in the morning and then install it in the afternoon.  More info to come! 

OUR ARTIST TEACHERS

We are again blessed to have local artists teaching and guiding us in art.  

This year's teaching team includes:

CAMP STAFF

Recreation VBS is its 8th year. We began as a grant-based program involving a dozen kids and have evolved to a camp done in collaboration between local church communities  based out of College Avenue Presbyterian. These communities provide the space we use, as well as greatly subsidize the camp through the use of their full-time employees. All adult leaders are volunteer, as well as our youth counselors. This is why we can offer such a great camp for so cheap. So please be kind to our volunteers throughout the week.

We do pay our artist-teachers as one of the stated goals of the camp is to empower the artistic voice and social action of our campers while we also empower local artists in their work so essential to our larger community.

OUR ART SHOW  
THURSDAY 8/1, 6-7PM
 

 Come join us for the art show that brings to a conclusion our week of VBS.  It's a fun time of celebration and connection.  You can see what your camper - and others - have done during the week.  Your camper will have learned about viewing art at an art show and can guide you through the fun. It's a causal, fun way to let our campers shine!

If you're able and willing to bring a plate of cookies, or other finer food snacks to share please let Monte know.

PRE-CAMP PREP SESSION FOR
CITs & ADULT VOLUNTEERS

If you're volunteering as an adult helper at camp, a counselor (7th grade and up) or coming as a Counselor-in-Training (CIT) please plan to attend an evening orientation meeting for all leaders on Sunday, July 28th from 6-7:30pm at College Avenue Presbyterian Church Oakland (pizza dinner will be provided)!

Fostering leadership among our camp population is a key aspect of our goal to recount hope, make art and serve our city.
 

THE 411 ON BRACELETS
 

Things can happen, even negative ones, when you gather roughly 60 kids together doing multiple activities.  Recreation VBS aims to include campers in our community life together, empowering them to not only follow rules, but to accept responsibility and act responsibly for each person at camp.  In the past we've distributed jelly bracelets as a way to encourage campers to not just be "good" but to be creatively inclusive, actively helpful, and to love our neighbor camper as ourselves.  So if you camper comes home with bracelets - even tons of them - ask them what happened, trying to get at the story behind the bracelets.

OUR APPROACH TO TALKING ABOUT FAITH

church communities offering a week-long summer experience for children. Each day does include a Bible story and we've created our program to wrestle with themes which can be religious and philosophical, around the year-long national dialogue about the need (or lack thereof) of walls to keep us safe. We’ll be wrestling with notions of community, making space for our neighbors through our own agency and inclusive action.

We are not an in-your-face proselytizing camp, and yet we do recognize and wrestle with the roots of our community ethos. Each day begins with roughly 30 minutes of music and story telling. We'll end each day with a closing summary and community moment. Our approach to faith is rooted in the affirmation that we are each and all called to be actors, not mere spectators, in the world.

PHOTO, TWEET, INSTAGRAM & VIDEO CAMP UPDATES
 

Like and follow us online via social media tools to stay abreast of what's happening during each day and to for photo and video fun!  
We use the handle @recreationvbs