This year, one of the Kids Club projects was to create a quilt and it was unveiled at the Banyan Dinner! The goal was to assemble a collection of favorite memories or favorite aspects of Banyan and incorporate them into a quilt to be displayed in the coming years. Given the diversity of youth in our program and the variety of Banyan programs, the quilt represents many different stories.
My favorite memory is…
“…summer camp because the food is good and I was there 7 days. I learned carpetball and talked about living in the trees but then it rained so we decided not to live in the trees.” – Joseph (4th grade)
“…when we went to Skateville on the bus from Banyan.” – Mahad (6th grade)
“…going bowling because I did the strikes” – Joshua (4th grade)
Some of the fun events represented in the quilt include the Banyan Family Celebration, overnight youth camp, water games, swimming at Cool Of Days, and Birthday Bash. Perhaps one of the most touching squares is depicting the meeting of best friends. There are also a number of hearts painted on the quilt sharing the sentiment of being loved.
My favorite memory is…
“…eating Hawaiian ice cream on the last day of Banyan. It was yummy!” – Zoe (4th grade)
“…when it was pajama day. We ate Takis and snacks. We watched a cool movie. It was fun and a really nice day, thank u Banyan 😊” – Ruby (4th grade)
Eighty-four memories are preserved in this quilt. An interesting thing to note is that almost half of the squares depict people. Banyan Community is about building positive relationships. One of our goals is to create an environment of support around youth, through the encouragement and investment of the adults in the community. These squares of personal relationships exemplify that goal!