FIRM had the great pleasure of hosting three amazing church volunteer groups for this year’s family festival. One volunteer group was from the Lake Grove Presbyterian Church in Lake Grove, Oregon. What was unique about this group of volunteer was that they came in families. Mothers, fathers, and children all came together for a week-long mission trip to FIRM. The next group came from the Cornerstone Church of the Silicon Valley, which also consists of families coming together to do a mission trip, and the last group was from the First Congregational Church of Billerica, Massachusetts. This group from Massachusetts was a group of young girls that worked hard all year to pay for their trip to come to Fresno to serve this community. Each group did various activities through the morning and crafts and activities with the youth during the evening Family Festival.
Activities that they did throughout their time here at FIRM was preparing a new garden for the families at Sommerset Apartments, fixing the ramp at the literacy center, lots if inventory for FIRM, and helped clear out a lot of old materials that was no longer needed. Each group that came to FIRM also participated in a cultural orientation (where they learned the story of the Hmong/Lao refugees), a cultural lunch (where Lao dancers performed and traditional Lao food was eaten) and visited our community garden in Clovis!
One of the highlights for all the youth at every Family Festival was the last day, which is also known as “water day”! They get an educational experience of fire safety from Station 5 of the Fresno Fire Department. They get to see all the equipment and see the inside of the fire truck as well. The one thing they cannot wait for is at the end when the firemen use their hose to spray the kids with water. The kids also get to go in the slip-and-slide until they get tired (usually about 30 minutes). Overall, it was a great two weeks!
FIRM would like to thank LGPC, CCSV, and FCC for all their hard work for Family Festival 2014! The youth will have these memories for life and the love of Jesus was shared each day through skits, worship songs and crafts that pointed kids towards His love for them. We would also like to thank the Fresno Fire Department Station 5, for coming out and being so generous to all the kids. The Family Festival is an annual event that takes countless volunteer hours and work to put together. We look forward to partnering with these groups for next year and to having the opportunities to impact kid’s lives in our community once again. Overall, the Family Festival this year served nearly 100 youth, most of which were children of Hmong and Laotian refugees.