Lake Region—On Sunday, Aug. 27, the Robbins (Ill.) Seventh-day Adventist Church held its first annual Male Involvement Day. The Youth department, the Men of Robbins Church group, and other male volunteers sponsored the day. Male Involvement Day was a free community event centered around a back-to-school theme.

Upon arrival, every child received an opportunity to enter a drawing for a free book bag. From there, they could visit activity stands or a concession stand where hot dogs, chips, and cold drinks were served. Activity stands included the prize stand (for our game winners), face painting, Bozo buckets, egg toss, basketball, tug of war, the bean bag toss, horse shoes, the Dyno jump, Twister, and martial arts instruction. Additionally, inside the church there was an area where three experienced barbers gave back-to-school haircuts. Many of the fathers who brought their sons received haircuts as well. All in all, about 35 men and young men received haircuts.

Gregory Wright, superintendent of the Posen-Robbins School District, District 143, also attended our event. Wright made sure our Male Involvement Day flier was distributed to the school children during their first week of classes. Several weeks before, church members also distributed fliers during our Vacation Bible School parade, and we publicized our event through the Robbins Cable Channel.

Positive male role models supervised most activities. However, this was definitely a team effort since our ladies and young adults helped out as well. Our pastor said, “This shows you what a small church can accomplish when everyone works together.” Robbins Church may not be great in numbers, but our common goal that day was to serve our church community. As a result, 60 or so community children participated, as did several families.

Upon their departure, each child received a packet of school supplies, furnished by our Children’s Ministry department, and a note thanking them for coming.

This event allowed us to just hang out and have good, old-fashioned fun with the kids, as well as converse with the parents. We plan to do Male Involvement Day bigger and better with each coming year!

Zakia Bradley, Male Involvement Day coordinator