Hillcrest and Carnivals

We hosted a carnival for Children's Home Society (CHS) this past Wednesday Night. Over 30 Hillcresters filled candy bags, ran bean bag and ring toss games, and supervised a jump house with an 18 foot slide for the 60 or so kids who live at CHS. CHS is a unique place in that it functions essentially as an orphanage for the state. Kids ages 4-13 come to live there, most for the short term, while their parents work through various issues or while the state works to find foster care families or adoptive homes. Hillcrest has a unique relationship with CHS in that several Hillcresters work at CHS as teachers or staff who live with the children.

Hillcrest also has a unique relationship with carnivals. We love them! In fact, every year I've been at Hillcrest, we've had a carnival of some sort- a block party, a harvest/Halloween party, and now for the past couple of years, the CHS carnival. It's in our Hillcrest DNA to do at least one carnival a year. In fact, when Halloween came and went this year, some Hillcresters got the carnival 'twitch', and seeing that there wasn't one for Halloween, were wondering if we were doing one this year.

I like carnivals, but they are also a lot of work. They take a lot of energy, a lot of volunteers, and a fair amount of cash to pull off. And I'm not against carnivals for the community or as a means to invite people to your church- this can be very effective outreach. I'm just more wired to do a carnival that fits our mission, and in this case, the CHS carnival is a perfect fit. November is also National Adoption Month, so the carnival fits as one of our tools to raise adoption awareness within Hillcrest.

My favorite story from the carnival comes from the face painting booth, where my wife Tarina along with others, was painting faces. One of the little girls wanted Tarina to paint a dolphin, which caught Tarina off guard. Tarina's a great face painter, but she is used to painting less intricate designs, and had no idea how to go about painting a dolphin. This little girl happened to have her mom with her (sometimes mom and/or dad come to CHS to attend special events such as this with their children) and her mom had a tattoo of a dolphin on her arm! The perfect reference point for the face painting design!