Sunset Neighborhood After-school Program (SNAP)

The beginnings of this Out of School Time (OST) ministry started with a news article I read about young kids being left at home alone while their parents had to go to work, and a phone call from SFUSD alerting families that the school year would be continuing online learning. My heart broke a little at the thought of these kids having to endure this for at least the first half of school. 

I wanted to do something, but at first, I wasn’t sure what. I very quickly was made aware of learning pods. It seemed that everyone with adequate resources was forming one, but that the majority of others were getting left behind. I wanted to create a pod that would be composed of paying participants as well as those who couldn’t afford to. Since I would have to leave my current job, I needed some income but still wanted a way to help out others in need. The primary hurdle after figuring out finances was space. My first thought was to use Sunset Church’s CE space. I reached out to leadership, trying to get things organized and in place before the end of CampToons. This, I felt, would offer the best chance of getting the word out and reaching families that might need help.Description text goes here

Unfortunately, the program did not start after CampToons. Despite these setbacks, God’s timing would prove to be perfect. It would be about two months after school started that the program would actually begin operations. This delay worked out better than any of us could’ve imagined. Had the program been launched earlier, we would have most likely been filled by CampToons children. That could’ve also been a great ministry opportunity, but God’s plan involved slowly bringing along families that had never been to our church before. By January of this year, the program hit its capacity of 14 children and was hosting 13 children who had never been inside our church before.

After spring break, SFUSD decided to reopen in-person learning. The OST program had to quickly figure out if and how to pivot to become an afterschool program. Luckily, the transition didn’t present too many challenges, and after a couple of weeks, Sunset had its afterschool program with an enrollment of 15 kids. Ten students from the OST program enthusiastically signed up for the afterschool program, and five new students enrolled. Although our time with them has been short, parents have already asked about a summer program and next year’s plans.

Reflecting on this past year there have been so many instances the staff has been able to see God work. One is just seeing the enthusiasm from the kids. During Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring break, the students had the opportunity to hear Bible stories and learn some Bible lessons. 

Once the after-school program began, I was shocked to hear that the first question from the kids was whether or not there would be Bible lessons taught. They weren’t asking because they were concerned but were genuinely interested in having more Bible lessons taught to them. I’ve been working with children for a long time, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard a request like this outside of the missions field. To hear non-Christian kids who had never set foot in a church before; request to learn more about God and the Bible as proof that God was working in their hearts. 

Another way that God worked was with one of the parents. During the OST program time, his son had forgotten his laptop at church and needed to come back to get it. When he arrived, we began to chat and he stated that he used to attend the AK youth program back when he was in high school. It turns out that one of our elders knew the dad and was able to reach out to him and arrange a time to reconnect. God was working in His time.

While I’m sure I could go on and on about other things that have happened, I would like to conclude by highlighting two of our staff members. These two volunteers from the Cantonese congregation have been serving in the program since November and have been a tremendous blessing to me and the families. 

Although they have had several instances where they faithfully served the Lord in this ministry, one in particular stands as a testimony to God working through the faithfulness of his servants. It was Christmas time, and the program was going to host a three-day mini-day camp with fun events and a lesson on the nativity story. Since these kids had never heard these stories before I decided to break the story up and focus on certain characters for each day so it can provide a more meaningful experience with the overall nativity story. To my surprise, both of these individuals put together gifts for the kids. Both created individual gift bags to send home, so each kid got to take home two gift bags! While already extremely thoughtful, one set of gifts had a copy of the nativity story for each child. The word “floored” doesn’t adequately describe how I felt when I saw how perfectly this worked along with the planned Bible lessons. God was working through His people!

Families have been very happy with the program and have all expressed their appreciation for everything the church has done to support them. For the past few months, they have been asking about next year’s plans and if our program takes place in the summer. The long-term goal, should this ministry continue, is to be able to have something to bridge the CampToons ministry between summers. Many children and families have been blessed to be a part of CampToons over the years, and often ask about extending the program further into the summer. There is so much excitement and momentum generated from the summer, but unfortunately, once summer ends so do most of the opportunities. By having a ministry in place that operates through the school year, staff and other church volunteers can continue deepening these relationships with families. God willing, this ministry is a step in loving our neighbors that can be taken together as a church.