“‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'” Matthew 25: 37-40
During the months of January, February and March, 2011, five Christ Community Church families have been taking turns hosting Family Fun Night at the 9th Street Community and Youth Center in Chester, PA. Each CCC family invites a few other families to help create a theme for the evening, designed to revolve around easy, inexpensive, entertaining ways that families can have fun together. Each week about 60 people from Chester come and participate resulting in new friendships!
Special thanks:
Renee Granger
Karen Hicks
Paula Udinski
Michelle Ward
Leslee Hoey
Week One – Minute to Win It Games
This first week all five CCC families hosted together: the Wards, the Udinskis, the Hoeys, the Grangers and the Hickses. Each family had a table where they set up a Minute to Win It Game (designed after the game show) challenging the Chester families to compete against the clock to conquer the different games. Games included “Junk In the Trunk” where contestants have an empty Kleenex box belted around their waist with the box on their tailbone and the box gets filled with ping pong balls. The person has one minute to try to empty the box by jumping and shaking! Another game, “Elephant’s Trunk”, puts a baseball in one leg of a pair of women’s hosiery and the panty hose are put on top of a person’s head. He or she has one minute to swing the leg of the pantyhose back and forth attempting to knock over 8 water bottles in one minute. The evening was a lot of fun and everyone enjoyed trying to beat the clock! New friends were made and everyone loved the fruit kabobs and soft pretzels at the end of the hilarious evening.
Week Two – Cold Winter Games
The Hoey family hosted Cold Weather Games for the second Family Fun Night. Their guest hosts included the Schwenks, the Millers and Ed Bardzik. It was a wonderful night full of laughter as the night began with a game of Jack Frost Says and Pass the Present, where many were challenged to perform very silly tasks. Next we split into three groups and played several more games. After the snack and hot chocolate, Holly and Ron Miller shared about their son Ian, who died in a tragic sledding accident one year ago tonight, and his Foundation, In Ian’s Boots (www.InIansBoots.org). They seek to provide winter boots for underprivileged people. They paired with the Andrew L. Hicks, Jr. Foundation to outfit all 53 participants with hats, gloves, scarves, and a pair of boots. The hats, gloves and scarves were provided by East Goshen Elementary School. It was a very special night.
Week Three – Board Games
Well below freezing temperatures on January 22nd didn’t stop residents of Chester from turning out for Board Game Night. Seventeen Chester families along with friends came and enjoyed the warmth of friendship inside, while the temperature dipped outside. The Grangers hosted the evening along with their guests: Bob and Kim DiGiacomo, Ed Bardzik and Caitlin McCulley. The 9th Street Community Center was turned into a board game extravagana! Some children, parents and grandparents played Pictionary, Connect, Checkers, Monopoly, Apples to Apples, Jenga, and Lite Brite, while others enjoyed Battleship, Scrabble, Play Dough, Simon Says and card games. We were having so much fun, we ran out of time. We had plenty of games still to go! Everyone enjoyed the vegetables and dip, popcorn and pretzels and beverages that were there as well.
Week Four—Craft Night
This night featured various crafts and was hosted by The Ward Family along with their guests The Lawrence Family, and Seth McMillan. The evening began with multiple craft stations & concluded with many smiles and countless creations. Painted piggy banks (penny included) & cross sun catchers seemed to be the favorite for all ages. Other stations included, sand art, beading and super balls. The ladies and teens created beautiful glass jewelry, frames and scarves. The evening was closed out with a time of sharing names and telling each other where each of us would travel if we could go anywhere in the world. Finally we made our last creation of the night: make your own ice cream sundae. 
Week Five – Movie Night
The Hoey Family and their guests, the Schwenk Family and the Zahniser Family, hosted Movie Night at the 9th Street Community and Youth Center on Saturday, February 5th. Everyone enjoyed watching Despicable Me while munching on movie-style popcorn and lots of chips. All the kids even got movie-size candy bars to make the experience just like it is in the theater! Everyone had a wonderful time as the movie was excellent, and the company was even better!
Week Six – Valentine’s Day
Our friends in Chester enjoyed a really fun-filled evening on Saturday, February 12th! The Granger family was the host family and they invited the Merrell and Knisely families as well as Madi Griffith to join them. One room of the 9th Street Community and Youth Center was devoted to Valentine’s BINGO and the other room was focused on decorating Valentine’s Day cookies. Midway through the evening our guests moved from one activity to the other. The cookies turned out really beautiful and every family went home with a gorgeous box of cookies in addition to the many that were consumed that night!
Week Seven – Cake Wars
This week in Cheter featured CAKE WARS, hosted by the Ward Family, along with their guests Seth McMillan, The Carter Family and the Rowe Family. The night consisted of decorating gingerbread houses and learning the “art of piping” from our own cupcake expert Heather Carter. Decorating cupcakes was fun, but eating them together was even better as we sang Happy Birthday to Solomen who turned 6 that evening. The kids also traced their silhouettes onto large paper and colored them in to represent themselves. We all had a great time and look forward to the next Family Fun Night.
Week Eight – Dance Night
Dance Night was hosted by the Udinski Family and their family, the Brubakers. The honored guests that night were the Henderson High School Dance Team from West Chester, PA. The Dance Team coach gave the crowd a brief history of dance. Then the team danced a few numbers for the group. Afterwards, each dance team member was able to introduce herself and describe for the kids her own involvement in the sport and her individual accomplishments. It gave the children a chance to better understand what is involved in becoming a member of a skilled dance team. Everyone got together for some line dancing and a few of the up-and-coming little dancers even taught the Dance Team members a few things about hip hop! The evening ended with brownies, cookies and an assortment of fruit with some beverages! Thanks HHS Dance Team for a great night!
Week Nine – Magic Night
The Granger Family hosted Magic Night on March 5th along with the Villotti Family. Thirty friends were in the audience for magic night. Magician Paul wowed the audience with illusions as it appeared that he could put a lit candle through his arm, had rabbit pictures move magically across the room and ropes that were changing lengths. Just when you thought you figured out how he did the trick, he would stump us all. We had fun together making magician hats and wands and wrapped up the evening with snacks of pretzels and magician hat cookies. We all decided we can’t wait until next week to all be together again.
Week Ten – Karaoke Night
The Hickses and the Grangers hosted Family Fun Night on March 12th and Joel Payton of Payton Entertainment provided the Karaoke services. Some of the guests were very brave and jumped up right in front of the microphone to sing out the songs that they had chosen. Others took a little bit of time to warm up. In any evnt, everyone enjoyed the dance floor! There was lots of arm swaying and hips bumping and we all enjoyed ourselves. Some in the group just might be ready for American Idol. We all enjoyed vegetables and dip and different cookies and beverages. It was a really fun night for everyone!
Week Eleven – Band Night
March 19th was hosted by the Udinski Family. The evening began with Seth playing some awesome music on the keyboard, while the families arrived. Everyone made their own egg shaker instruments that they could make music with and join in the fun. Adam, Seth and Jesse played some music for everyone on the djembe, guitar and bass. Then all the children had opportunities to try out all the instruments. After everyone took a turn, the Udinski band played some fun, interactive camp songs that everyone really enjoyed. Finally, the entire crew participated in a few line dances, including Cotton-eyed Joe, which was a new one for a lot of our Chester friends. The evening finished off with fruit and dip, ice cream cups with toppings, snacks and soda. Everyone had lots of fun and the Udinski boys did a great job leading the night!
Week Twelve – Banquet
All five Christ Community Church families: The Ward Family, The Granger Family, The Hoey Family, The Udinski Family and the Hicks Family reconveened to provide our Chester guests with a great feast! We set up tables with beautiful centerpieces and decorated the room and had it all prepared when our Chester friends arrived. The host families cooked and served meatball sub sandwiches, ziti and salad. Then everyone was treated to a slide show featuring photographs from the previous eleven weeks. After that our Chester friends surprised us with a Praise Dance and then everyone enjoyed dessert together. Every Chester family left that night with a small gift and hearts full of love. The five host families have great memories of three months of fun and every one is so grateful for new friendships which have been formed. Glory to God!