One of the ways that Kids Club strives to share the love of Christ is by coming alongside students and families through challenging seasons and circumstances. We are thankful that God provided our staff and volunteers that opportunity with students Eliseo and Eliana.
The siblings joined the program in fall 2023 after Communities in Schools recommended Kids Club to their grandparents, who had recently began fostering them through Kinship Care. After researching Kids Club, their grandparents said they thought it would be the perfect for Eliseo and Eliana.
“It’s really helped us a lot, especially since it’s an afterschool program,” their grandfather said. “The best thing that I like about it is it’s Christian-based. You don’t find many programs nowadays that teach that and we’re really grateful, and the children like it. They come home and they talk about it, and I think it’s a very influential.”
Kids Club staff Alex Aguilar and Delicia Carrasco led Eliseo and Eliana throughout the 2023-2024 school year and agree they have seen them grow, especially in their relationships with Christ.
When they first came to program, Delicia said Eliseo and Eliana would simply listen during powerhouse, Kids Club’s spiritual enrichment time. As time went on, they began interacting more and asking questions about the Bible stories they were learning about – they even began volunteering to pray for the group.
“I admire the fact that they always want to pray. They always want to be the volunteer for that – and that it’s a big thing,” Delicia said. “Eliseo, he’s like, ‘well, I don’t know what to say,’ but he offered to say it. So, I told him, just try a few simple words – ‘Thank you Jesus, for this fruit.’”
Alex said Eliana also faithfully puts prayers in the Seeds of Love prayer box. Seeds of Love regularly visits our Kids Club campuses to complete service projects with students for the community. During that time, they also collect student prayers in a prayer box so their team of volunteers can pray over them.
“Eliana is always so excited to put a prayer in the prayer box. And I remember the first time she’s like, ‘let me pray for my parents.’ So, she wrote about her parents. I felt like that was very good. And I felt like, ‘okay, she knows that God has a plan,’” Alex said.
By helping kids experience Christ in a simple manner – it not only teaches them things like how to pray, but it also shows them the love Christ. At Kids Club, kids are individually known and supported through positive relationships with caring adults.
Alex and Delicia agree that through Kids Club and their relationship with their grandparents, Eliseo and Eliana have learned healthy boundaries. They have also grown to trust and rely on staff in a way that has helped them thrive socially and emotionally at Kids Club.
“Eliseo, every time we’re waiting for them when they come out of school, he always comes and gives us a big hug,” Alex said. “So, I just feel like that’s a good interaction, connection that we have.”
