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Dr. Tonya Mamantov, Floyd Elementary from KiDs Beach Club on Vimeo.

KiDs Beach Club® recently partnered with Hickory Tree Baptist Church in Balch Springs, Texas to start a Beach Club at Floyd Elementary in nearby Mesquite. 

Five elementary schools in Mesquite Independent School District already offered KiDs Beach Club®, but not Floyd, where Dr. Tonya Mamantov became principal in 2014. She had worked as an assistant principal at Porter Elementary, where they had a Beach Club, and taught at Hanby, which added a Beach Club after she left to be the principal at Floyd. 

She has been praying for KiDs Beach Club® to come to her school since she arrived. Her prayers did not fall on deaf ears and God began to work.

Shortly, God sent Hickory Tree pastor Alex Gonzales to visit the school. When he stopped by to see how his church could help the school, Mamantov invited him into her office and began telling him about KBC. She pulled up the organization’s website and planted a seed.

Gonzales returned to his church and mentioned KiDs Beach Club® to the church’s Children’s Pastor Jason Points, who went out to his car and retrieved a folder he received from KBC Executive Director Cindy Leach in October.

This string of events was clearly orchestrated by God. The new Beach Club starts in February. 

To hear more from Dr. Tonya Mamantov and her thoughts on the benefits for schools in partnering with KiDs Beach Club®, watch the video above.

GIVE TO KIDS BEACH CLUB

Christmas is just around the corner. Do you need a gift idea for the person or group of people, like your coworkers, who you just don’t know what to buy? 

The legal assistants at Dawson & Sodd LLP, a law firm with offices in Dallas and Corsicana, came up with a great idea for their attorneys last Christmas.

“Last December, it came time to buy the attorneys Christmas gifts and they’re always hard to buy for,” Tanya Norris, a paralegal at the firm, told KiDs Beach Club® in an interview last winter. “We talked about donating money or our time to a charity that each one cares about. We were all trying to come up with ideas of which charity to donate to.

“It was funny because not more than 5-10 minutes after having that discussion with all the girls, I received an email from Beach Club. It was a few days before #GivingTuesday when I got that email so I just felt like that was God’s way of telling me that is what He would have us do. So we did that.”

In Tanya’s 18 years with the firm, she has seen how God has blessed the people there, saying that everyone has a story on how God has made an impact in their lives.

“There are a lot of organizations that are dear to everyone there and they all start with God and His blessings,” said Norris, whose son Cameron attended the Beach Club at Malakoff Elementary the last two years. “We decided the best way to repay that was to share the news of Him.”

Norris gave each one of the attorneys a letter at their annual Christmas party that pointed out how everyone at the firm had been blessed.

“We gave them my letter with the information from Beach Club,” Norris said. “No one really read it that night at the party. It was really in the days after when they gave us a thank you card or told us how much that meant and there wasn’t really a better gift that could have been given.

“Some of (the attorneys) said that was the best gift they ever received. We were just so glad to do that for them and they were so glad that we did.”

Cameron received one of the 24 weekly Bibles each club passed out before the organization started Great Treasure Day this past spring in response to the generous support of donors at the 2014 Bibles for Beach Club Benefit Dinner and Auction.

The gift the legal assistants gave to their attorneys last Christmas went directly toward providing Bibles for every child at Malakoff Elementary when they held Great Treasure Day last February.

Cameron had already brought home his Bible last fall. It had been just a few weeks before the letter arrived from Beach Club encouraging donations for the Bibles for Beach Club program so that every child in every Beach Club can receive their own copy of God’s Word.

“I think it’s wonderful. Many kids would never have a Bible otherwise,” Norris said. “There are so many kids, there are so many families that need to have Jesus.

“It’s impossible to get into every home and share the Word with everyone who needs it, but it’s easy to donate some money, even enough money for one Bible or whatever you can donate. That Bible gets into that home and that child may pick it up and mom may pick it up or dad may pick it up, and it can change the entire families. You can just change their lives.” 

If you’re interested in giving KiDs Beach Club® Explorer’s Study Bibles this Christmas season, you can do that by clicking here.

#GiveKiDsCharacter on  

With test scores becoming the guiding focus in public education, elementary schools are focusing less and less on teaching good character.

That’s where KiDs Beach Club® has stepped into the gap. First, by giving every child in every club a KiDs Beach Club® Explorers Study Bible and then focusing on 24 different character words throughout the school year, teaching them these words and lessons through the lens of scripture.

An assistant principal at one of our partnering schools recently told us, “I can definitely tell that having a Beach Club in our school has helped. I think it’s teaching them good life lessons that carry over into the school setting.” When these kids end up in the office for making a bad choice she is able to draw from the character words that are being taught to reinforce making good choices the next time. “I ask them, what are you learning in Beach Club? Is that really how they’re telling you how to treat other people and how you show that you respect yourself and others?” 

KiDs Beach Club® is making a huge impact ministering to nearly 11,000 students in 164 schools across the nation but we have millions more that need to be reached. Please help us to reach these kids before that window closes.

Give to KiDs Beach Club® on Giving Tuesday to help us open more clubs and teach these important character words inside public schools.

By now you know the impact you’re making by supporting KiDs Beach Club’s Bibles for Beach Club program. You know that because of you we are able to put a Bible in the hands of every child in every Beach Club.

One church outside of Dallas, Texas is helping provide God’s Word to even more children and they’re utilizing Beach Club kids to deliver it to their friends who don’t yet have a Bible.

Royal Haven Baptist Church sponsors a Beach Club at George H.W. Bush Elementary School in Addison. Nearly 100 kids have signed up for Beach Club this year.

They received their KiDs Beach Club® Explorer’s Study Bible when the Dallas Independent School District campus held its Great Treasure Day in late October. Some children had already received a Bible at Great Treasure Day last spring. This fall, they provided KBC Bibles to another 72 children who had not attended the club prior to this year. 

Of course, what makes this Beach Club different is that every child in that club had already received a Bible from the church.

Royal Haven volunteers provided Bibles to every child on the first day of Beach Club because they felt it was important to provide the Word of God the very first day the club meets. Great Treasure Day didn’t take place until the seventh week of Beach Club this year.

“What we’re seeing is that there are kids who have never had a Bible, ever,” said Belinda McBride, the Beach Club coordinator at Bush Elementary. “In fact, we had kids begging for Bibles before we ever had Bibles in hand to give them. As a result we’ve given them temporary Bibles until they can get the Kids Beach Club Bibles.”

What happens next is purely inspiring.

At Great Treasure Day, they asked children who received a new KiDs Beach Club® Explorer’s Study Bible to give the Bible they got at the start of the year to someone they know who doesn’t have a Bible of their own.

“We told them that the need to give their (temporary) Bible to someone who has never had a Bible,” McBride said. “Next week, we’ll ask our kids who they gave their Bible to.”

Through your passionate participation in our Bibles for Beach Club program and in the spirit of #GivingTuesday on December 1, when you’ll continue to help us #GiveKiDsCharacter, you’re showing these kids how to be generous by essentially DOUBLING the number of children receiving Bibles at Bush Elementary.

It’s because of your unselfish attitude and your willingness to share with others that is helping #GiveKiDsGenerosity. Thank you for your continued support!

We just finished celebrating Great Treasure Day, the day in Beach Club that your child received a KiDs Beach Club® Explorer’s Study Bible.Thanks to our generous donors, more than 7,429 copies of God’s Word have been handed out this fall to every child in every one of our clubs at no cost to our partnering churches or the students. We hope you are enjoying the excitement of exploring the treasure of God’s Word along with your child.

Great Treasure Day isn’t just a one-time event. With thousands of new kids coming into Beach Club every year, we will be giving a Bible to each one of them, just like we did for your child. Would you please consider passing this blessing forward?

Join us by setting up a monthly recurring gift of any amount or give a one-time gift of $40 or more and we will send you a FREE KBC T-SHIRT. This special offer expires December 31, 2015, so give your gift today to support Bibles for Beach Club! With KiDs Beach Club® being an IRS qualified 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, all donations are tax deductible. Hurry and beat the deadline for this year.

Pay It Forward!

KidzMatter Magazine
By David Bivins 

“Her dad is in ICU and is not expected to make it.” These are words you never want to hear. But when it’s a child you’ve grown to know, you’d do anything to help bring comfort to her family. This opportunity to minister to the family didn’t directly happen through our church, but through our relationship with a local public school.

Open PDF

Within a few miles of where I live, there are over 30 public elementary schools. Each school has hundreds of children who need to hear the Gospel and who long for a positive adult influence in their lives. The need is great, but how can we reach them when you can’t mention God at school? Or can you?

The truth is, my church is allowed to teach about God and salvation in a public elementary school near us. In fact, God is welcomed! Our church partners with KiDs Beach Club, an organization that equips local churches to impact communities by sponsoring weekly after-school programs on school campuses across the country. For one hour a week for 24 weeks each school year, volunteers from our church and community lead high energy games, provide snacks, give prizes, help kids memorize scripture, pray, and encounter Jesus on their school campus. A recent initiative through KiDs Beach Club puts a Bible in every child’s hand AND teaches them how to use it.

How is this possible? In 2001, the Supreme Court upheld the Equal Access Act, which states that if any group met on a public school campus, outside normal class hours, then no group could be discriminated against. It’s time for our churches to reach out into our communities — right into our public schools — to minister to children, their families, and administrative staff. When the mission of the Church is to tell others about Jesus, an effective strategy is to go to where they are. KiDs Beach Club empowers churches to do that.

KiDs Beach Club connects our church with a local school and supplies the curriculum, training, and Bibles. We even have an area director who provides guidance and walks us through the process. Our church supplies the volunteers, snacks, and prizes. Volunteers from our church build relationships with the kids and their families while leading activities each week. Sponsoring a club has been a great outreach opportunity since we often see kids at our church who attend KiDs Beach Club.

Our club leaders were invited to visit the hospital in a time of need and sadly went to the memorial service of one of our clubbers’ parents when he passed. We were able to be the Church for that family who didn’t have a church home. By venturing outside the walls of our building, we’re seeing God change the lives of kids in our community.

David Bivins is the Children’s Pastor at Fleming Baptist Church and enjoys woodworking and trail riding. He and his lovely wife Audrey and 20-month-old daughter live in Augusta, Georgia. This article was reprinted with permission from the November/December 2015 issue of KidzMatter Magazine.