Dear Parent,
Welcome to our Awana Club.  We are eager to begin our season and know it will be filled with truths of God's Word, as well as, fun and excitement.  Awana Club meetings are brimming with life-enriching experiences for young people.  They provide consistent positive experiences stressing strong spiritual and moral value.  Clubbers learn the reality of God and are trained and equipped to serve Him.  Awana Clubs offer parents the valuable influence of a wholesome peer group for their children.  It's an organization filled with leaders and helpers who genuinely love and care for their children - your children!  For reasons that are evident in the smiles and happy faces of boys and girls worldwide, you will want your son or daughter to attend Awana Club as much as they will want to attend.  Parents are always welcome to come and observe the Club meetings.  As a matter of fact, we strongly encourage it!  Thank you for the wonderful opportunity of showing God's love to your children!  Building lives together.  'Because Kids Matter to God'

 In Christ's Service,                                                                   
Jeb Berleth - Awana Commander                       

We are so glad to have your child be a part of our Awana Club at Spring Hill Baptist Church.  Here is some important information that you need to be aware of.

AWANA CLUBS TIMES
Wednesday Evenings from 6:30 to 8:15pm. Please be there by 6:15 for Check-In.

REGISTRATION
When you and your child arrive at the Club Meeting please respond to the appropriate Check-In Table for that Club
- Cubbies - In the Gym by north side entrance
- Sparks - In the Academy Building
- T&Ts - In the Gym by north side entrance
Please fill out the Registration Card (1 per child) upon the arrival on the child's 1st Club Night.  Please Pick-Up the Parent's Guide for your own club info.

CLUB DUES
Dues are collected weekly, but preferred to be paid yearly.  Cost is $.50 weekly or $15 per Club Season.

IMPORTANT CONTACT INFORMATION
If you need to make contact for any reason during the meeting or during the week
please feel free to contact Commander Jeb Berleth at # 352-200-0960 or E-Mail at jeberleth@bellsouth.net

ENTRANCE BOOKLET / HANDBOOKS / UNIFORMS
If your child is new to Awana he/she will get an Entrance Booklet from their specific club.  This Entrance Booklet is the first step in Awana achievement.  We hope you will help your child complete this booklet in the next 2-3 weeks.  When the booklet is finished, your child will be able to get a Club Handbook
and memorize Bible verses, complete achievements and earn awards.  Your child will also be eligible to wear an Awana uniform where they can proudly display their awards.  Please see your specific Club Page in this guide for Handbook and Uniform fees.

FRIENDLY REMINDERS
1.  Please make sure your child brings his or her Bible to every club meeting. If he or she does not own one please let us know.

2.  Please make sure your child brings his or her AWANA Handbook to every club meeting.

3.  Please make sure your child wears his or her uniform shirt or vest to every club meeting. This shows uniformity which kids love, plus it is great place to display their awards which they can obtain when they complete their AWANA Book sections.

4.  Please place your child’s name on everything - Bibles, Books, & shirts. Bibles and Books     constantly get left behind, and we are unable to figure out who owns them when they are not marked.

5.  Regarding the AWANA Handbook - your child will be completing achievements while at the club meetings, but it is suggested that your child work in their book while at home with your help.  They need assistance memorizing their verses, and completing their work. When they come to the meeting  they will get credit for them and they will earn 'shares' (points) which they can use to purchase items at our 'Shares Store Event' which is held twice a year. (Share Stores are for Sparkies & T&Ts only) Plus they get awards for completing those same sections. 2 great reasons! But there is another reason.

6.  Again regarding the AWANA Handbook - remember completing achievements is not a race. 
     Remember your child will have the whole year to complete it. We want the children to take their time going through the book and to obtain knowledge and understanding from it, and from God's Word. Now that is the Best reason of them all! 

7.  Please follow the Drop-Off & Pick-Up procedure which has been implemented (See Clubber Safety Policy).  This is for safety and security reasons. Plus we want to get to know you too!                         

8. Please R.S.V.P. with permission slips when it is requested - it makes planning things a lot easier for us.

9. Please make sure you ask your child about Activity/Event Notices they may have been sent home with.

10. Bring a friend! Your child can bring a friend to the club meeting.

SAFETY / SECURITY POLICY
Your child's safety is of utmost importance to us. We will be strictly enforcing our policy regarding how children are dropped off and released from the care of AWANA workers to a parent or guardian.

DROP OFF:
ALL Clubbers MUST CHECK-IN every week at their specific Check-in tables – Puggles in Nursery; Cubbies & T&Ts in the Gym; Sparks in the Academy Building #4

PICK-UP:
-ALL Puggles will be picked up in the Nursery and be signed-out by a parent only!
-ALL Cubbies will be escorted to Room # 207 by the Fellowship Hall at 8:15pm and can be picked up there.
-ALL Sparks will be escorted back to their Academy classrooms around 8:15pm and can be picked up there.
-ALL T&T children will be escorted to the Fellowship Hall at 8:15pm and can be picked up there.

IMPORTANT! The PICK-UP MUST be done, IN PERSON – BY A PARENT OR GUARDIAN ONLY !
NO SIBLINGS PLEASE! Your child will not be released to an older sibling.  Pick-up MUST be from INSIDE THE BUILDING ONLY!  There will be no exceptions! Not even for Awana Leaders!

Early Dismissal - Any child that must leave early MUST be picked up by a parent or a guardian and it MUST be witnessed by an AWANA worker. The AWANA worker will then record this event in the official AWANA Logbook.

**Children will not be permitted to go to the parking lot unescorted.**

I trust that any inconvenience this may cause you is compensated by knowing that we want to maintain a safe and secure environment for your child.  Here are 2 theoretical examples of what we are trying to avoid:
1. Mrs. Doe is standing in the gym as AWANA ends. As the T&T kids are forming lines to go over to Fellowship Hall, Mrs. Doe's daughter comes over and stands by her along with two other children. Now we do not know whether Mrs. Doe intends to take all the children home or just her daughter.  (Mrs. Doe should pick her child up in the fellowship Hall and avoid all confusion.)
2. Little Johnny tells his AWANA Leader that his mom says that he should go to the gym and pick up his little Cubbies brother and then meet her out front. (This will not be allowed)

This is the COVENANT  that we want to make with you:  The bottom line is that you (the parent or guardian) visibly release your children into our care and at the end of AWANA we visibly release them back to you.
 
SICK CHILD POLICY
Your child's health and safety is of the utmost importance to us.  Due to the Swine Flu and other illnesses that seem to go around during the school year, we at Awana have developed a simple policy to make sure that your child and others will less likely get infected by other sick children and that they stay as healthy as possible.
                                                                                   
We are asking simply that:
-If your child is ill – (runny nose, fever, rash, coughing…etc)  DO NOT BRING THEM TO AWANA.
-If you do bring your sick child to Awana - YOU WILL BE ASKED TO TAKE THEM HOME.
-If you bring your sick child and leave them at Awana and a leader brings it to my attention you will be contacted and asked to return to pick them up.
-If you are an Awana Leader and you are ill - DO NOT ATTEND AWANA.

Please be considerate to others and use common sense.  Please remember this is to protect your child too!  We want to make sure your child has a wonderful experience, each and every week, while they are at Awana.  We want to keep them as safe and as healthy as possible for you because they are your ‘precious gifts from God’.  Let us protect them together!  Let us make this a great, safe and healthy Awana Season!