Thanks for volunteering with VBS this year! If it's your first year, a newer aspect we have is solidifying training for our Volunteers. While we know many are well trained teachers and administrators, in keeping with the United Methodist Church's Safe Sanctuary Policy, we must make sure everyone is up to date on norms and practices for the local church. Sometimes these are different from school policies. 

Many of you have already done the training last year, in 2025. You won't need to update your training until next summer, in 2027. 


If you haven't had the training, we will offer a Sunday afternoon 2-hour crash course on all of it. We know an extra training on a Sunday may sound frustrating. Thankfully, we also know that we ALL care enough about the safety of our children that we can attend a 2-hour course every 2 years.

Alongside this, we need to make sure that folks who have access to our children have background checks. If you already have one through your school or work that is up to date (more recent than Jan 1, 2025), great! Send it Deann Szatkowski. If you do not have one that you can provide to Deann Szatkowski by July 1, we will need to obtain one before VBS starts. Once again, for those who completed this in 2025, you're in the clear!

If these dates don't work, reach out directly to Skitch to get more information. skitch@whumcs.org