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LOUISVILLE — Carol Hylkema recognizes that the triennial Gathering of Presbyterian Women (PW) and the PC(USA) General Assembly aren't exactly the same.
One big difference is that the PW Gathering includes a comprehensive program for children and GA does not.
But there are four other important differences:
l The women's meeting is slightly bigger. Last year it had 3,500 registrants, and it can go as high as 5,000; a typical Assembly involves about 3,000 people.
l Although both are legislative meetings, PW's triennium doubles as a conference.
l Those who attend the PW event aren't occupied with business all day every day, as commissioners to the Assembly are.
l And, perhaps most importantly, the PW's event is organized by women for women: The culture is simply different.
Hylkema, a former vice moderator of PW's Churchwide Coordinating Team, says of the PW's provisions for children: “The key, to me, is the commitment to a program for children, not just child care. Parents want it to be a good place for their kids to be, a safe environment. And they want it to not just be babysitting. They want people to have energy for the kids there ... and for it to be convenient for parents to check in on them.”
She says the Gathering's children's program “is pretty close to paying for itself.”
Tending to the details of a full-blown program for kids is the responsibility of Carol Winkler, of Cincinnati, who contracts both child-care providers and summer camp personnel, working closely with the risk-management office of the PC(USA).
“It does take time,” she says. “It is a process.”
Hard work, but well appreciated.
Last year, 50 children were enrolled full-time in programming for 6- to 12-year-olds run by employees of Camp Cedar Ridge, part of the Presbytery of Mid-Kentucky — an entity that already had insurance and the proper license to tend youngsters. The children were taken on excursions in Louisville— to the Museum of History and Science and the Louisville Slugger bat factory and museum — and spent one day at the camp.
Twenty-five children under 6 were cared for in an on-site daycare facility operated by a licensed provider who runs a preschool at a local Presbyterian church when school is in session. The state of Kentucky, unlike some others, gives care providers the flexibility to set up on-site. Winkler says PW rents some equipment for the nursery and buys some, and donates the purchased items to charity when the Gathering ends.
Parents paid $175 for each camper last year. PW paid for bus transportation and put up a few camp staffers to stay at the conference hotel. Winkler says the younger group required a bigger subsidy; she estimates the total cost to PW at roughly $5,000.
While the Gathering may look like a profit-making enterprise — its registrants pay money to attend — it isn't, according to Ann Ferguson, a PW staffer. The operation is underwritten by the organization, and practically everyone who attends gets some scholarship money. Without the financial assistance, every participant would have to pay $500, but PW insists on keeping the fee at $300 or less — and subsidizes the rest.
Since the program was conceived, PW has met in Kentucky, and its next two conferences are also to be held in that state. A new site, Hylkema knows, might not meet the state requirements, requiring that PWscramble to find another way.
Hylkema says having a program for children is part of PW's philosophy, a way of encouraging younger women to take part. Many couldn't come to the Gathering if they couldn't bring children along.
“(The children's program) was subsidized quite significantly in 1997 and 2000,” she says. “Nobody said, ‘Why are we doing this?'”
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