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Wings and prayers
Photo
Bradley (9) May with his mother Cheryl and his sister Sarah (6) at Lake Milton Raptor Education Center's presentation of Birds of Prey at First Presbyterian Church in Columbiana, Wednesday February 25, 2009
Club Rocco and Alpha Omega open new horizons for young people. The youth groups at First Presbyterian Church, 28 E. Park Ave., Columbiana, are grouped by age. And this week’s program for them really took flight.
Aimee Pico, who founded Lake Milton Raptor Education Center with her husband, Matthew, visited with a Harris hawk, peregrine falcon subspecies Barbary and a common barn owl.
The program, unveiled from behind panels, took some of the children by surprise as they asked: “Are they real?” They got the answer as the tethered peregrine falcon flapped its wings and some of the children’s eyes widened in delight.
Club Rocco is led by youth director Chris Watson with assistant Judy Wilms, and geared to kids age 5 and older. Alpha Omega, for those in seventh through 12th grades, is led by Amy Stacy.
Club Rocco engages children with a theme. This year it’s stewardship, said Watson. Other activities, she said, are skits, prayer, Bible study, fellowship and field trips. “We went to Hogan’s Bakery, where the children got to decorate their own cupcakes and we had a yoga demonstration,” she said.
On the educational side, representatives of the Columbiana police and fire departments have visited and talked to the children about personal safety, fire prevention and tornado precautions.
Club Rocco has some 70 children registered; from 38 to 50 participate at the 4-to-6:30 p.m. Wednesday programs in the church fellowship hall.
“We started out with about 15 children, and it’s grown,” Watson said. “We get participants from our church and the community.” The program, set from September through May, gets its name from Rocco, a puppet used by the pastor, the Rev. Scott Parker.
Alpha Omega’s eight members focus on philanthropic work. “We’ve taken a mission trip to a foster care center in West Virginia, raked leaves for community residents and served the Blue and Gold Cub Scout banquet,” Stacy said. There’s a challenge to attract members, she said, because this age group has so many other activities available.
This week’s program wasn’t all an ooh and aah session. Pico walked among the children, lowering her arm so they could get a bird’s-eye view of the falcon. She cautioned them not to touch, though it was clear some children wanted to pet the beautiful bird.
She talked to the children about the legalities of harboring wildlife and even keeping feathers from these birds. She said they must call a wildlife expert if they come across an injured bird or feathers.
Pico pulled the children into the program by asking what characteristics raptors — birds of prey — had, and what birds were raptors. She summed their input by noting, “They have hooked beaks, long talons and eat meat,” and they’re hawks, eagles, vultures and kites.
When Pico showed the barn owl, the group discussed sounds different owls make from hoots to screeches. The third and final bird, the Harris hawk, is one that Pico uses in her hobby of falconry.
The program concluded the evening. The Wednesday night sessions are free to participants, who also eat a meal there. Donations from church members and the community make it so, Watson said. The meal starts with a prayer.
Dan and Suzanne Kloss coordinate the meal every other week while other volunteers from the church fill in. “It’s all volunteer; there’s no paid staff,” Stacy said of the program.
Watson said craft projects that the children make for their parents are timed to the seasons. There’s a lot of activity packed into the time frame. There are two teachers for each of the four classes into which Club Rocco kids are grouped.
“We try to mix it up — but not too much structure,” Watson said.
Watson emphasized that the youth-based program “is a safe place where kids are loved, learn something and eat.”
“It’s also a resource to provide other things we see some children might need ... like clothes,” she said. “It’s another component to the program.”
Watson said the activity also has helped children make new friends and learn many new things.
Alpha Omega is involved in the community and church. It held a 30-hour fast and cardboard box project in August to bring attention to hunger and being homeless. Fundraisers earned some $600 that went to the Way Station and World Vision.
The group, all musically inclined, will conduct the sunrise service at 7:30 a.m. Easter Sunday with “The Christ is Right” game show. “The big showcase will be eternity with Jesus,” she said.
linonis@vindy.com