McCandless church’s program for special needs kids, siblings helps parents, children, volunteers
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Memorial Park Church in McCandless hosts a monthly event where youth with special needs and their siblings can enjoy a night with friends.
The free program, dubbed Friday Nite Kids, is open for kids with special needs and their siblings from ages 2 to 21, said Abbie Nosel, who coordinates the program.
Families — who don’t have to be part of the church — can drop off their kids from 6 p.m. till 8:30 p.m. every second Friday of the month from September through May.
The program includes crafts, snacks, a gym rotation, computers, story Bible time and praise songs, Nosel said.
The event typically draws about 20 kids each night, she said, and between 30 and 40 volunteers will be on hand to ensure the event runs smoothly for the children who participate.
Nosel said the program is a huge benefit for everyone involved, from the parents and the special needs kids to the siblings and the volunteers.
Some volunteers, she said, form friendships with the kids who participate. One volunteer, she said, takes one of the girls with special needs out for her birthday every year, and several volunteers and special needs participants swap cell phone numbers so they can call and text one another between events.
“They get to feel just like every other kid or teenager on a Friday night, hanging out with their friends,” Nosel said. “It’s great, how fun it is.”
The program caters to youth with any level of special needs, Nosel said, ranging from children who have separation anxiety or social anxiety to people on the autism spectrum, individuals in wheelchairs, children who are blind and youth who can’t talk.
“We take them all,” she said.
Special events for the participants range from magicians and ice cream trucks to STEM nights and dances.
The special needs ministry at the church also hosts a weeklong Bible camp in July, Nosel said.
While Nosel said the most rewarding part of volunteering with the program — which she’s done for about 10 years — is seeing the children with special needs enjoy themselves, she said it’s good for the whole family.
Siblings who participate often form friendships among themselves, she said.
“I love when the siblings can just be regular kids, too, because sometimes siblings of a special needs kid have to parent a little bit or be a caregiver,” Nosel said. “I like when the kids can just be kids and hang out with other kids.”
It’s also a major help for parents, she said, who often have a hard time finding babysitters who are qualified to care for children with special needs. Sitters who are qualified, she said, are often expensive.
“The parents need this,” she said. “Since we take the siblings, too, parents get one night out a month that they know their kids are taken care of and safe. It’s really good for them — especially in December, when they need to shop or wrap or decorate, or just need a couple hours to themselves.”
While it’s sometimes hard for people to leave their houses and skip other plans to volunteer on a Friday night, she said, people keep coming back once they see the kids’ smiling faces and enthusiasm.
Nosel’s 4-year-old son, Quinn, accompanies her to the Friday Nite Kids events each month, she said.
“I love that my child grows up and doesn’t realize that the kids are that much different from him,” she said. “They’re all his friends. I want my kid to grow up learning that we might have differences, but we’re all the same, too.”
The project is funded by Memorial Park Church and other donations. Families do not pay to send their children, Nosel said.
Anyone who is interested in participating or volunteering can reach out to fnk@mpcepc.org for additional information. Families who want to participate will need to fill out some basic paperwork about their children before attending, Nosel said.