Caring for Children at Big Events
by Erik Alsgaard
Your local, district or conference United Methodist Women is holding a large event and you need to provide child care. You don't want to ask members to miss the program, so what do you do?
Faced with such a situation, Assembly planners turned to "Kiddie Corp," a San Diego-based company that serves special events throughout the United States and Canada. Brian Cropp, program manager, supervised Kiddie Corp's efforts at Assembly.
"There's a lot to think about when providing child care," Mr. Cropp said. "From security and safety procedures to providing programs and education for the kids, you have a lot to think about. Kiddie Corp can take care of it all."
At Assembly, two large rooms were set aside for the children, with about 35 to 40 in attendance every day. The theme for the child care was "Around the World with Friends."
The first day, they learned to say "Hello" in the languages of countries they "visited" on their world tour. At their first stop - Anaheim, Calif. - they made passports and friendship bracelets and got to know each other through games.
Over the course of the weekend, they traveled to Asia, Australia, Latin America, Africa and Europe.
"You want to make sure you're providing more than just babysitting," Mr. Cropp said. More information about Kiddie Corp is available at www.kiddiecorp.com.
