It's an end of era. After 20 years of Freedom Fridays at Lindenwood Christian Church, 1000s of kids, and countless memories, Freedom Fridays have come to an end. FFs have long been a part of a rite of passage for many children and teens.
What started out as a “night out for parents” turned into a “a night out for kids”. Freedom Friday’s director, Phil Vaughn, says, “We originally planned FFs as an opportunity for parents to have a night out without the kids, but instead found most parents simply brought their kids to FF and stayed home”. Freedom Fridays have always centered around music, skating, arcade games, climbing wall, and concessions. FFs were offered each Friday night from 6:30 pm to Mid-night. Over the years, FFs were reduced to the third Friday of the month and ended at 11:00 pm. Our biggest FF's attendance was around 375 kids, while our average was around 120. Grades Kindergarten thru 8th grade were invited.
After school Director, Toni Key-Hall, stated, everywhere I go, someone will stop me and say, I remember you, I used to go to Freedom Fridays at Lindenwood” After 20 years, one of our biggest joys is seeing parents who now have children of their own who use to attend FFs. Some of FFs highlights include the Underground, Cyber Cafe, Limousine and carriage rides, sleepovers, carnivals, Valentines Dances, Halloween and haunted houses, theater productions with Mr. Bill, and pictures with Santa Claus.
It is with great sadness that we will not continue FFs in the Fall. However, we will begin a new program called Friday Night at Lindenwood for our after school parents and their guests which will be similar to FFs, but will provide greater security, better staffing, and a more manageable enrollment and attendance process. To get more information about the new after school Friday program (Friday Night at Lindenwood) go to the After School page on this web site.
The Life Center staff wants to thank all of you who have been a part of the Freedom Friday programs over the past 20 years. You will always be like family to us and we hope you keep in contact with us. The Life Center will still offer summer camps and School’s Day Out (open when schools are closed) for the general public. For more information on our after school care, child care center, SDO, sports teams, gymnastics, karate, or girl scouts, please go to our web site at lclife.org.