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Free Children's Day Activities

Posted on Nov 30, 2009

Free Children's Day Activities at the Dandenong Polish Seventh Day Adventist Church
By Elizabeth Croom
Months of planning, organisation and preparation culminated on Sunday 25th of October in a spectacular turnout of visitors for the Dandenong Polish SDA Church in James Street, Dandenong.
After many weekends of door knocking and letter boxing the local area, advertising through school and church newsletters and distributing invitations to family and friends, the big day finally came.
It began with some light showers and our hearts sank a little as we gathered together to pray again for fine weather and many visitors and we also wondered a little if God was testing our faith! Our aim was to hopefully welcome, feed and entertain at least 300 visitors. By 12:30 we had already reached our target! God blessed us with a total of 565 special new guests and well over 600 visitors in all coming from suburbs including Rowville, Mulgrave, Dandenong, Doveton, Dandenong North, Narre Warren, Croydon, Doncaster, Noble Park, Hallam, Cranbourne and Berwick. It was also fine weather throughout the day, praise God.
It was very hard to determine what the most popular activity was. The Amazing Reptile Show excited and provided photographic evidence of an up close and personal meeting with a large snake and other live reptiles. The Pinnacle of Terror leap of faith abseiling and rock climbing wall was challenging, thrilling and for some, terrifying. The Fortress jumping castle, the Giant Human Soccer Table game and the Karaoke sing-along were winners with all age groups. The lucky dips, balloons and supply of sweet treats delighted the younger visitors. The children's Art and Craft was in high demand all day with the opportunity to create your own 2010 laminated calendar and a magic-clay 3D sculpture. It wasn't just the children who enjoyed these activities either!! The face painting tent was full all day with many customers having a second visit as the day proceeded.
It was also our pleasure to provide food throughout the day for our guests. Dairy farmers donated milk and Sanitarium Health Foods provided a variety of cereals, So-Good soy milk and Up and Go drinks. Pancakes were also on the breakfast menu until 11:30 followed by a BBQ of Sanitarium vegetarian sausages, halal meat sausages and vegetable patties accompanied by cheese, onions and eggs between bread. Hot drinks were also available all day.
The delight on the faces of the children and the relaxed look on the faces of the parents was a joy for everyone. Many families and teenagers stayed for several hours, giving church members the opportunity to chat and get to know many of our guests. We had visitors from other SDA churches and other denominations. It was so nice to see people who are not usually a part of our Adventist community. Our neighbours in the area came to enjoy the day with us, including several Moslem and Hindu families. There were many visitors from Heritage and Nunawading SDA colleges but the majority of visitors were from the surrounding local area and local suburbs. There were some visitors who had never stepped foot into a church before! There was one family whom I chatted with that were seeking a church to become part of and were very impressed with the friendliness and generosity displayed by this event. Another lady who had turned away from church as a teenager was interested in attending a service one Sabbath with her family.
To gain some immediate assessment about the effectiveness of our outreach to the community, 49 visitors were surveyed during the day and filled in our ‘keep in contact' information. All gave positive comments with 40 people indicating they would like to be added to the Kids Fun Day mailing list, 9 people indicating they would be interested in becoming a sponsor of the Kids Fun Day, 13 people indicated they would like to receive a free Bible and reading guides and 24 people indicating they would like to receive information about events and activities organised in the future.
All visitors were sent home with a take-home-pack with a DVD, information different activities in the SDA church, sweets, drinks and also a ‘keep in contact' form so we are looking forward to receiving further responses in the mail. For the kids, the balloon they received at the exit was the most important. For us, it was great to see children walking off with balloons with the SDA logo waving in the air. If you want to get more information about our Kid's Fun Day, very welcome to visit our website (which has text in both Polish and English): www.dandypolish.org.au