January
A Low-Staffing Solution for Mpact Girls
Ginger Casebeer
A creative way to run your Mpact Girls Clubs program when short of long-term volunteers involves coordinating learning centers. We have 30 girls in Stars, Prims, and Daisies, and between two and four volunteers per meeting. Following an all-club session for pledges, music, and prayer, we split into groups. Each club level goes to a station and then rotates: craft or activity, memory activity, and unit lesson. The units were planned with the same craft for all three groups, and the memory activity selected was adapted to the different clubs. We had activity boxes available for preclub and after club fillers (beads, pipe cleaners, magnetic building pieces, etc.). Since all of the planning was done in advance, a parent volunteer could walk in the night of the meeting and help with the craft or run the game with a page of instructions. Someone comfortable with reading or teaching (usually long-term volunteers) staffs the lesson/activity page station. Our administrative helper assists with attendance, dues, and parent questions during group session and is able to help out at a station prior to checking out girls. Utilizing gifted church members with commitments during club time, we were able to prepare for super crafts and activities and have someone who was only able to help occasionally provide a supervisor for a group. Though the long-term sponsors were skeptical at first, they praised God for the results during the flu season and vacation times when our regular sponsors were unable to attend.