Summer at FOG: Detroit Zoo Field Trip

To the right is one of the FOG children, Taylor, at the Penguin House. She lives in the

neighborhood near Family of God and has never has been to a zoo. Last Saturday she was able to spend a day away from the neighborhood at the Detroit Zoo, she had a fabulous time and was one of the dozen kids that were able to go.

This Summer, we embarked on a new program focused on giving the children at Family of God the opportunity to experience new things. We decided on three events, Detroit Zoo in July, Greenfield Village in August and a Tigers game in September. Our prayer is that this effort will help us in establishing a mentor program in the future.

Our first event was well planned and a great success, in large part because of our Director of Development, Amanda Becker’s meticulous planning. The heart of the program involved recruiting adult volunteers at a ratio of 1:1. Several COS adults came forward and as part of expanding our ministry base, we were able to recruit an equal number of adults/students from University Lutheran Chapel in Ann Arbor. Actual numbers for the zoo visit were: 13 kids and 20 adults.

We also determined early on that this program would be fully funded by grants. If you’ve taken your family to the Zoo, you know it is not inexpensive. We also wanted to be able to pick up all the costs for the adults to make volunteering easier, especially for ULC students. One Sheep Ministry, an outreach ministry of Trinity Monroe and Grace Monroe provided us with a generous grant and a Thrivent Action Team grants of $250 helped covered the entire cost!