Olde Forge JUNCTION Kids, activities come together at faith-based outreach center
Olde Forge Junction activities keep children busy
By NATASHA ALTAMIRANO
Date published: 8/12/2006
By NATASHA ALTAMIRANO
Olde Forge Junction is at times an art class, a soccer tournament or a science museum.
Last week, the faith-based outreach for families in the southern Stafford County neighborhood became a mini-library.
"Storytime Thursdays" are one of Olde Forge Junction's many children's activities planned for this summer. Others range from American Sign Language lessons to a trip to a Richmond Braves baseball game.
Since 2003, Olde Forge Junction's goal has been to connect families living in the neighborhood of 229 townhouses off U.S. 17 east of Interstate 95 with community programs, Director Theresie Houghton said in an interview earlier this summer.
"We're all trying to better the lives of these kids," said Houghton, who was instrumental in the early years of the Bragg Hill Family Life Center, a Fredericksburg faith-based facility that offers children's programs, senior activities and adult classes.
When Stafford Sheriff Charles Jett and the Fredericksburg Area Baptist Association wanted to start an outreach program for the racially mixed Olde Forge community, they turned to Houghton.
Three years later, Olde Forge Junction has partnered with several Fredericksburg-area churches, including Hull's Memorial Baptist and Berea Baptist churches, for summer activities and its after-school "Brain Builders" program.
For story time last week, organizers brought the library to Olde Forge Junction's youth center at U.S. 1 and Butler Road in Falmouth. The program shares a former bank building with the Fredericksburg Area Fellowship of Christian Athletes and New Vision Center, a faith-based rehabilitation program for female ex-offenders.
Nine children ages 5 to 10 sat in a circle around Rhonda Belyea, a youth services librarian and storyteller at the Central Rappahannock Regional Library.
They heard about scared little bears and big green monsters. They learned what to do with a kangaroo and how to deal with monsters in their closets.
They hissed, growled, screamed and mooed--all part of the stories and games Belyea introduced.
"Mean Soup" by Betsy Everitt is the story of a boy named Horace who has a bad day. When he gets home, he and his mother blend a "soup" of special ingredients that make all of his bad emotions go away.
"When you guys have a bad day, you can remember this book," Belyea said.
Between stories, Belyea led the children in a silly song about animals trapped in a school.
Each child had a chance to pick an animal. Ten-year-old Lashay White chose a duck.
"There's a duck in the school--oh, no," Belyea sang. "What are we gonna do? As long as there's a duck in the school, he's gotta learn the alphabet, too."
The children then "quacked" to the tune of the alphabet song.
Earlier last week, a different group of children participated in an art class--another of Olde Forge Junction's summer activities.
Shelly Shipman, an art teacher, showed the group of five children how to paint and stamp clay pots.
Sabrina Sevilla, 8, painted hers with the patriotic theme of red, white and blue.
Other activities planned for the summer include a fishing trip at Curtis Lake today with volunteers from Berea Baptist Church for boys 7 to 12 years old, and a field trip for all ages to the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum in Baltimore.
Volunteers and chaperons are needed. For details, call Olde Forge Junction at 540/368-0081.
To reach NATASHA ALTAMIRANO:540/368-5036
Email: naltamirano@freelancestar.com
Date published: 8/12/2006