Daniel Tyler Gooden / L’Observateur / July 1, 2000

PAULINA – You wouldn’t think that on an average summer day one could find children eating bugs and drinking blood at Chanel Interparochial. Ifyou had walked in the cafeteria on Tuesday you would have, sort of.

Lunch for the children consisted of bugs with pretzels for legs, crackers for a shell and cheese for innards with red Kool-Aid served alongside. Themeal, constructed by the pre-K class, represented the locust of the plaque Moses brought on the Egyptians and the Nile River he turned to blood. Allweek lunch at Bible school was as much filling as an adventure.

Each day had a different theme: Monday, God cares for us; Tuesday, God protects us; Wednesday, God loves us; Thursday, God saves us; and Friday, God is always with us.

Tuesday’s theme, God protects us, prevailed over all the activities during the day. Divided into five groups the kids took were entertained withvarious projects while learning about Moses and the plague on the Egyptians. In one class they played games designed around the day’s theme.As one child stood his ground and two protectors held cardboard shields in front of him, an assailant attacked with Silly String. The gamerepresented what it felt like to be under attack and how God is there to protect us, said Gaylynn Mathern.

As a service to the community the children also made care packages of daily necessities for the women of the New Orleans Battered Women’s Shelter. The packages also include a dollar bill so they can buy cards forbirthdays and other important events.

To help the volunteers, teen-agers assisted as part of their service project before confirmation. Fifteen service hours and five spiritual hoursare required before the teen-agers are ready for their confirmation. Manyserved as mentors and group leaders, organizing the children and helping them in their classes.

“A lot of them come to help and fill their service hours. A few did thislast year and loved it so much they came back to help again,” said Sue Beier, organizer of the week-long camp.

At noon, they finished up with a show put on by some of the teen-agers.

On Wednesday the kids gathered in the cafeteria with balloons. For theshow, they used the balloons to represent the Red Sea, and the balloons parted as Moses crossed the sea, said Terri Meany.

The atmosphere at Chanel, despite bugs for lunch, was very energized as all the kids bounded from class to class enjoying their morning of Bible study. The volunteers, teachers, mothers, grandmothers and others seemedto be as pleased as the kids as all looked to be having a wonderful time.

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