Recreation VBS is an unique day camp experience for children in 1-12th grades in the urban setting of Oakland: one part VBS, one part Art Camp, one part community service learning projects makes for three times the fun!  We were birthed out of desire to tweak a traditional Vacation Bible School (VBS) to respond to the needs of multicultural, multi faith, urban children in Oakland, CA; as well as an intentional effort to encourage present and future local artists and social activists.  We continue today as a nonprofit partnership between participants in various Oakland churches and communities.  Our goal is to empower children - and adults - to be participants and activists for societal wholeness through the realization that social action, artistic creativity, faith, moral values and ethics are integrally connected in us a individual human beings and as a living community. Most leadership is volunteer.  We use the monies that we collect in registration fees to encourage local artists and empower social change in our beloved city of Oakland.

 


OUR APPROACH TO TALKING ABOUT FAITH


 
Recreation VBS is a day camp, issued from the historic tradition of Christian 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, about personal engagement  and communal social action.  The Bible Stories we tell are narrative ways to engage the imagination, provide vocabulary for mysterious and hard-to-say things and stories which help us to unpack our own stories.  We rely heavily upon the Godly Play curriculum, and create new ones in that spirit. 

We are not an in-your-face proselytizing camp, and yet we do recognize and wrestle with the roots of our community ethos.  We remain both open to all people  and are proud to share our tradition as a way of life and action.  Each day begins with roughly 30 minutes of music and story telling. We'll end each day with a closing summary and litany (a sort of active group prayer or meditative pause).   Our approach to faith is rooted and perhaps best expressed in the ancient prayer written by Theresa of Avila, as we seek to be actors, not mere spectators, in the world.
 

Adapted from St. Theresa's Prayer :
 
Christ has no body now but yours no hands, no feet on earth but yours.

Through your eyes Christ looks with love on all people.

He walks about on your feet doing good,

and uses your hands to bless the world.

Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,

yours are the eyes

and you are His body.
 
Christ has no body now but yours. 


Amen

 

DAILY NEWSLETTERS

We issue daily electronic and paper newsletters so that you can know what your camper did during the day and what to expect in the days to come; and even more importantly with some suggested discussion questions for you to use around the dinner table or in the car as you go about your day.

 

THE 411 ON BRACELETS : OUR FORM OF POSITIVE DISCIPLINE


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 ourself.  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 ART  

Each day of Recreation VBS includes a time for visual art creation, education, practice and collaboration. Projects are done in various formats including painting, construction, drawing, sketching and sculpture.  Projects are both individual and collaborative group ones.  Our ethos is to encourage creativity, self-expression and confidence.  Art is a language that we all can use - young and older - to express our thoughts, feelings and hopes.  We encourage adults to engage their campers about their art work not in saying wether it's good or bad, liked or not; but rather in terms of what were you thinking, how does this or that make you feel, how do you feel about what you created?  The goal is not perfection and achievement, but discussion and relationship (with skill development of course!)

Each week of Recreation VBS includes an evening  art show that brings to a conclusion our week of camp.  It's a fun time of celebration and connection.  Parents, care-givers and friends 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!  We invite those who come to bring a plate of cookies, or other finger food snacks to share, as a way of making the Art Show even more fun and user-friendly.   Our Art Show is traditionally on the Thursday night of the week of camp from 7:00-8:00pm.

 

OUR APPROACH TO CAMP FUN


 Recreation VBS is a day camp with the intention to provide a "camping experience" for city children who may or may not be able to get out of the city for sleep away camp.   Rather than embracing technology and über-modern forms of entertainment, we affirm that good old fashioned fun, getting dirty, and playing together are the best ways to relax, develop friendship, learn about ourselves and each other and contribute to the emerging maturity of children.  Fun is the vocabulary that we use in our art, faith stories, community service, collaboration and free time.  Some of the ways in which we encourage and nurture fun include daily game times - led both by counselors and interested children; free time based upon choice play, arts and crafts opportunities, a water play blow out fun day on the last day of camp, goofy songs and fun dress up themed days each day of the week.

 

WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY COMMUNITY SERVICE LEARNING?


 One of the three primary poles of our mission is to nurture and encourage a commitment to our city through community service and social action.  To do that we intentionally engage the part of the city in which camp takes place each year, seeking to partner with other non-profits and city leaders to name, discover and address some of the social and physical needs of our city of Oakland.  Of course we do this in a way that is safe for all children, and age-appropriate; as well as non-political and definitely not one that takes advantage of children for propaganda or religious purposes.  Our afternoons are generally given over to this type of active service leadership and project based learning.

Some of the past projects we collaborated on include:

  • Trash pick up in the Dimond and Rockridge Neighborhoods with local community organizers
  • Building a community garden with a local neighborhood association in the Laurel District
  • Helping to raise funds and awareness for the redevelopment of the Dog Park at Hardy Park (aka Frog Park) in Rockridge
  • Clean up and Restoration of the nature areas in Hardy Park (aka Frog Park) in Rockridge with the Rockridge Community Planning Council
  • Making lunches for the hungry, distributed to the homeless in a local park, with First Presbyterian Church of Oakland
  • Preparing, Cooking and Serving a free community dinner to the homed and homeless hungry at College Avenue Presbyterian Church
  • Clean up and Restoration of the nature areas at Peralta Hacienda Park (in the Fruitvale District)
  • Discussing the recent riots and racial tension issues in Ferguson, Missouri and creating notes of encouragement that sent to community organizers working for peace there

 

WHAT DOES A DAY OF CAMP LOOK LIKE?

EACH DAY OF CAMP INCLUDES


A half hour of music and a story from the Bible.  It's our way to wrestle with the theme that we are uniquely created by God, and that there is no one else just like me.   In life we're invited to discover our unique gifts and love the world and our neighbor through them.  We're wrestling with that theme all day long - as we create art to express ourselves, play together, and respond with community service to the local immediate needs of our city.
 
The morning is consecrated to art classes aimed to lead our campers in visual and performing art creation and skill growth.
 
Lunch includes a time of free time - play crafts, games and rest - chosen and directed by the campers!
 
The afternoons are consecrated to community service (and fun) throughout our part of Oakland.  Some of our opportunities to serve our city range from to neighborhood beautification to helping to feed the homeless.