Arts and Crafts Camp 2025

From January 14 to 16 we held our 15th annual arts and crafts camp at Youngnak Church. We had 25 3rd to 6th grade girls attend from five different children’s homes and we had 33 volunteers from 18 different churches. Our volunteers took three days off in the middle of the week in order to serve the girls and they all did a wonderful job. 25 of our volunteers were paired with a girl for all three days to make crafts together. The remaining volunteers served as side helpers and were crucial in prepping each craft and helping the camp run smoothly.

We started each campday by having all of the volunteers line up to welcome the girls. Our camp director Jee Lee stood at the entrance and announced each girl by name along with some additional sweet words, such as, “The lovable and sweet… SOO JIN!”

One of my greatest joys serving at the camp is seeing the girls transform over the three days. On the first day most of the girls are a bit nervous and insecure, but by the third day they are all beaming as they are welcomed in. The girls are starved for affection, so seeing them be affirmed and applauded by such a large loving group always blesses my heart.

After entering we set the girls and their paired volunteers in groups of six and eight. The following group was some of our oldest girls with two of them being new to the camp. Thanks to the love of their paired volunteers the girls relaxed and ended up having a wonderful camp.

For this camp six of our volunteers were current Oak Tree Project students or Oak Tree Project graduates (www.oaktreeproject.com). Five of them attended this camp when they were in elementary school. It was such a joy for our staff to have them return to serve as young adults. The young woman on the left will be graduating from college next month through Oak Tree Project. She attended the camp as a child in the early 2010s.

Here is a picture of her from our 2012 camp…

Our first craft was making a gumball machine.

After the morning craft we had lunch in our groups. Each day we served the kids’ favorites… tteokbokki, pizza, chicken and kimbap, etc.

Our second craft was designing tote bags that would also serve as mailboxes for the girls during the camp. Volunteers and kids wrote letters for each other and slipped them into the bags. The girls loved getting letters!

At the end of the craft time Jee invited up girls to share about what they made. It takes a lot of courage for the girls to get in front of everyone so we always cheered loudly for each of them. The girl below was new to the camp and didn’t smile the first two days. We weren’t sure if she was enjoying the camp or not, but to our surprise she got up to share about her bag and also got up again later during compliments time to compliment one of the volunteers.

By the third day she couldn’t hide her smiles anymore. It is such a joy seeing these girls come out of their shells.

Our third craft was shrinkles. The girls made different designs on shrinkle paper and then some of our helpers used heat guns to shrink the paper down into miniature pieces that they used as keychains.

Here is one of the girls with her completed shrinkle.

Our fourth craft was a camp favorite that we do every two years: gingerbread houses (or in Korean: snack houses).

Between crafts we also held different games and activities that the kids enjoyed a lot.

During the camp a fashion accessory brand (ffroi) visited and gifted each girl with a brand new backpack.

One of our 3rd graders modeled her bag in front of everyone.

On the last day the kids made yearbooks in the morning and also designed blocks with their initials on them. Here is one the girls working on her initials. Her volunteer on the left is also with Oak Tree Project and had attended the camp as a student when she younger.

After lunch we had free time that included stations with nail art, face painting, and games. Here are some of the girls who got their faces painted.

For some of the girls the game time on the last day is their favorite time of the camp.

Here is one of our staff, Mijeong Song, teaching some girls how to play Mexican Train Dominos.

This girl below smiled throughout the camp. She was so happy! But we didn’t know that normally she has a scowl on her face.

Here is a picture from her children’s home during a recent presentation. This is apparently her “normal” facial expression.

But not at the camp! Such joy! People who knew her were shocked by her transformation.

Here is a picture of the Oak Tree Project staff and students/alums who served at the camp. As a staff we have known some of these young women since they were 4 years old.

Here is Sky with some of the Oak Tree Project students.

For me, each camp I drive the girls from Geon Christian Children’s Home to and from the camp (2 hour+ roundtrip). Each morning the girls would stare at the ETA on my navigation, longing to get to the camp as soon as possible. But after the campday they wanted to stay out as long as possible. They were delighted when I took them through a car wash before going home on the last day. The two young women on the bottom left grew up in Geon and served as volunteers at the camp.

One of my girls expressed she wished the camp was for a whole week. Another one of the girls corrected her that the camp should be for a whole month. We are so glad they enjoy it!

Special thanks to…

• Karis (main sponsor)
• Won Bin Kim (main sponsor)
• Saving Grace Church (main sponsor)
• Second Hand Rose Thrift Shop (main sponsor)
• FFROI (sponsored bookbags)
• Julie Won (sponsored snacks)
• Michael Lee and Hae Hyun Kim (pictures)
• Yeonsim Na and Randy Warren from Lifesong for Orphans (video… coming soon)
• Pastor Joe from IWE and Youngnak Church (hosting us)
• Jee Lee (has now directed 15 arts and crafts camp!)
• All our wonderful volunteers for loving these girls passionately for all three days!