Since its founding days, the Ebenezer United Methodist Church in Eclipse has been known for its community programs that often have more community children than church children in attendance.

One of the newest community camps the church provided this summer was its pre-school camp, which was held for one week each month throughout the summer. The church was hoping the camp would build interest in having a preschool program at the church.

“It’s been great,” director Michelle Holst said. “The kids have seemed to have a blast, and we had good sign ups.”

There have been a total of nearly 30 children in the three camps.

During the camp, children participate in music and art projects, a snack time, playtime and craft time.

The children’s favorite, however, is parachute time.

“We always end with the parachute time, which involves the kids holding it and trying to keep a ball in the center of it,” Holst said. “They love it.”

Grace Hargrave said her favorite part was painting.

Blake Johnson liked the cheese balls during snack time.

Sarah Grace Corron said the most fun she had was making dots on her painting.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Sarah Grace said. “It’s 1,000 times of fun.”

The camp does have a serious purpose, though. Besides providing a fun time for the children, leaders at Ebenezer are testing the waters to see what interest there might be in a preschool.

“We needed to see if the building could handle it, and if there’s a need for a preschool,” Holst said. “There aren’t a lot up here, and there are waiting lists for the few that are.”

The church is also conducting a survey of the area to gauge community interest.

“So far, we’ve had a great response, but it’ll take time to see,” Holst said.