Bowen is the Christian Educator at Hillsdale First United Methodist Church. This past September, she helped her church begin a new after-school program for youth in the community. She is now the director of the program, which she calls “That After-School Place,” which meets on Thursday nights.
Why did you decide to start this program?
We were looking for a missions project for our congregation to tackle, and we realized there weren’t any free after-school activities that weren’t religious. We were trying to not add extra stresses to families, so we thought maybe we would do something that’s not religious and just have a fun time and feed them dinner and give them some homework help.
What are your goals for the program?
We’d like to see it grow into maybe an every day program by working with some other churches and growing it that way. Or working with one of the school districts in town to see if we can help them make an after-school program that meets every day and is free or very low-cost.
What kinds of activities do the kids do?
I have games, we have books, we have crafts. I’m really into the crafts. I am in the process of trying to get some more active games, so I got some hula hoops last week.
Do you get a pretty regular group?
Yes, we have a pretty regular group of girls that come. Once in a while, one of them doesn’t show up, but it’s pretty much between six and 10 right now. We have really good food. We have a good time. Right now we just have girls so we’d love to have some boys come and join us, but we’re having a good time with our girls. They like to be active and it helps them work off some of their energy.
-Compiled by Daniel Slonim