T-R PHOTO BY SAM STUVE The First United Methodist Church in Marshalltown, 202 W Main St., is set to host it’s first-ever Camp E on the weeks of July 19-23 and July 26-30, as well as Aug. 2-6. The will have four days at the church that consist of STEM, art, baking, and music, while Fridays will be an off-campus day.

The First United Methodist Church of Marshalltown, 202 W. Main St., is offering something new for kids between first and sixth grades this summer — Camp E.

Camp E is being offered during three different weeks — July 19 to July 23, July 23 to July 26, Aug. 2 to Aug. 6.

The camp has been organized by interns who are college students from Iowa universities — Seth Diser, a business student at Grand View University in Des Moines; and Zoe Heemstra, a business student at Northwestern College in Orange City.

Diser said the First United Methodist is his home church, having grown up in the congregation and he views Camp E as an opportunity to give back.

“This is my home church, so it’s really exciting to be able to give back to an organization that’s done so much for me,” Diser said.

According to Diser, the idea for the camp came about through members of the congregation how the church could give back to the congregation that’s more than just vacation Bible school for kids.

Enter Camp E, which is free to sign up for and will consist of four types of activities:

• Art

• Baking

• Music

• STEM

Diser said initially the camp was going to consist of music and art, but eventually added baking and STEM because of the talent that they were able to find and bring in for the camp.

“That’s what the talent we could find that could help and we could serve the most kids that way,” Diser said. “So it slowly turned into offering four different things over three weeks.”

Each type of activity will have a project behind it that includes certain activities and are “expert-led.”

CAMP E ACTIVITIES

STEM:

• Marble run

• Magic tricks

• Experiments

• Legos

• Building activities

Music:

• Music Video

• Singing

• Instruments

• Dancing

• Percussion

Baking:

• Open a bakery

• Sweet treats

• Take-home recipes

• Cake decorating

Art

• Paint a mural

• Painting

• Pottery

• Jewelry

• Decor

Each activity will be taught in 90-minute sessions, with two sessions taught Monday through Thursday of each camp week. The goal of the camps is to “engage, excite, enrich, and express,” through faith-based activities, but not forcing religion on the participants.

“We’re trying to not make it like a VBS camp, so it’s not all Bible, small groups and stuff, it’s more activity based,” Heemstra said.

She said there will be times in the middle of the day that will be meant for kids to decompress and be used as a break.

“That’s where we will have some books that talk about the fruits of the spirit that we’re going through, have journaling and prayer time,” Heemstra said.

Camp E will take place Monday through Thursday of each week but will be “off campus” on Fridays. The Friday off-campus days are going to feature three trips in Marshalltown.

Diser said on July 23, family pool passes will be given out. That way, kids can either go with the volunteers or with family. On July 30, there will be a pizza party at the Wayward Social, and finally, on Aug. 6, the activity will be geocaching at Grimes Farm.

The planning for the camp came relatively recently according to Heemstra.

“We’ve been working on it since June, there’s been a lot of planning and brainstorming and going into it,” Heemstra said. “We’ve been working on it all day, every day. So we’re really excited to start it and give back to the kids.”

There is a wrap-up event planned for the end of the camp, which is “The Amazing Chemistry Show” hosted by John Derhart of West Des Moines, at 6:30 p.m., on Aug. 8. in the Impala Ballroom. Along with the show, local churches can come in and set up booths.

“We’re trying to help kids get plugged into a church somewhere because the leaders here definitely don’t want to go out and steal kids from other congregations,” Heemstra said. “We just kind of want to have a place for them to go.”

She said the support from the church was very strong. There was an initial struggle to get volunteers but that was short lived once more information on volunteer roles were detailed.

“I feel like from the beginning, everyone was really excited about it,” Heemstra said. “People would just come up to us to ask, ‘What can I do? Is there anything I can help with?’ and so that’s really cool.”

The support and interest in the camp may be seen in what Diser said they have in the number of kids that have been signed up for the camp.

“We’re about 95 kids right now in total for all three weeks,” Diser said.

The camp had a goal of 80 participants per week. Signing up for the camp or to volunteer for it can be done on the church’s website.

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Contact Sam Stuve at 641-753-6611 or at sstuve@timesrepublican.com