By Stan Wang

Catching bugs, picking blueberries, dropping eggs. What do all these things have in common? They are all activities that Summerbridge kids look forward to at the end of every summer in August.

Since 2007, CBCGB has partnered with ACCESS (American Chinese Christian Educational & Social Services, Inc.) which is located in Chinatown, and offered a weeklong program for the ACCESS children (ranging from kindergarten through 6th grade). Most of the children ACCESS serves grow up in the bustling city with limited access to open space and a dearth experience of life outside the city. These children are also struggling to make sense of their Chinese upbringing and their American education. Seeing that these kids are at a disadvantaged position, some brothers and sisters at CBCGB had a vision of providing them with a week-long summer program at CBCGB. The main purpose is to empower the kids with skills through various activities and expose them to Christians as role models. 

This week-long program was called “Summerbridge” for several significant reasons. First, since it will be held on the week after ACCESS’ summer enrichment program and before school starts, it serves as a “bridge” for the children between ACCESS and school. Summerbridge is basically another week of structured program for the children that can save their parents the trouble of finding babysitters. Second, being a church in the suburban area, Summerbridge “bridges” suburban CBCGB with downtown kids.

In the past, we would lead hands-on activities in the morning at church such as baking cookies in a solar oven, learning about compost, and recycling old newspapers into new white paper. Then, we would take the kids on a field trip in the afternoon that included picking blueberries, playing mini-golf, visiting farms, and having field days at a Lexington school field.

As with many ministries, COVID forced us to cancel Summerbridge in 2020 and 2021. It was a difficult decision especially when ACCESS told us that the kids were disappointed about the cancelations. They looked forward to the enrichment activities as well as seeing all the volunteers. It was hard for us also, as we looked forward to seeing how much the kids have grown over the years.

This year, as we tried to transition back, the two year-hiatus made relaunching the program challenging. This was particularly true when it came to recruiting volunteers. Old volunteers were already committed to other ministries and new ones were hard to come by. Mostly, people could not take off a whole week from work. Just as we were ready to cancel Summerbridge again for the third year, ACCESS proposed that we find alternative ways to stay connected with their kids to maintain the long-established relationship even if that means cutting down the days of activities. After weeks of praying and waiting for God’s guidance, we decided to offer a one-day Summerbridge in Chinatown at ACCESS’ location instead. This not only minimized the number of volunteers needed but also avoided the hassle of securing a bus to shuttle 30+ children on field trips each day.  

Given the abridged version of the ministry, we successfully recruited six long-time Summerbridge volunteers from Cross Bridge, along with 5 of our children (and friends) as helpers. We created lessons around making slime, constructing kites, designing a contraption to prevent an egg from breaking when dropped from 10 feet high, and doing fun competition games, like who can stack and unstack plastic cups the fastest. It was nice to see all the familiar faces from prior years. We were also pleasantly surprised and encouraged to see former Summerbridge and ACCESS students now serving as ACCESS teachers and Teaching Assistants. 

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,^[a] for those who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28

Despite the stress that came with coordinating with ACCESS about this year’s Summerbridge, I saw God’s hand throughout the process. While the ACCESS kids had a really good time, God also used this ministry to bless me and family in various ways. 

For me personally, the one-day program reminded me of the joy of sharing God’s love with ACCESS children. Since that day happened to also be on my birthday, Pasang, ACCESS’ director, thoughtfully surprised me with a cake in the afternoon. 

For my family, we got to serve together for a common ministry for the first time. Pre-pandemic, both my wife and I served as Summerbridge volunteers for many years. As a result, my two daughters grew up attending Summerbridge as participants. Now that they’re older and with this year’s shortage of volunteers, we included them as classroom helpers. What a blessing it was for our family to taste the joy of serving together for the first time.  We hope that this is the first of many opportunities for us to serve together as a family. All in all, despite having a two-year break and not being able to do a full week of Summerbridge in 2022, I’m glad we were able to offer an abridged version of Summerbridge. 

I don’t know what God has in store for Summerbridge going forward, but I pray that we can continue to build relationships with the ACCESS kids. If you have further questions about Summerbridge or are interested in volunteering for Summerbridge in the future, feel free to email me at da.man1980@gmail.com.

作者簡介：Stan Wang is a member of Cross Bridge and the current Children’s Ministry Deacon. He is also serving as the 5th grade Sunday School teacher, an ALIVE youth counselor, member of Social Concerns Ministry, and part of the Cross Bridge Marriage Mentoring Ministry. He is married to Melissa Yang and has two daughters.

責任編輯：張紅星