#:
9
Title: “Families Can’t Flub with FHE Clubs”
Exhibitor: Karen Schellenberg
Description: The FHE Club is really a Co-op. It is a library of kits that
can be shared, checked out, used, and returned to the “box.” The group forming the club can be a ward, a Relief Society Enrichment program, a neighborhood group, or an extended family group. It works best of the club’s members live nearby. The benefits are great. With small effort, the members can access the efforts of all. The kits are labeled for “family type.”
How To’s: Why Start an FHE Club?
Why
Start an FHE Club?:
You don’t have to think up all of the ideas yourself.
You can use many other people’s ideas and perspectives.
You can save time by not making every kit yourself.
You don’t have to lose closet space for kits you may not use a second time.
If you like one kit a lot, just check it out again. You don’t have to own it.
If you like to so much that you want to own it, copy it and make one to keep.
The kits can be shared with people outside the club if they are returned on time.
You can make kits from lessons learned in real-life situations, and share them.
From Sheryl Hoyt:
“I love the FHE kits! The great thing about having them available through the
ward Relief Society is that it is simple, easy, and many ideas are shared. All I have to do is check one out and replace one each week during church time. Most of the kits have everything you need for the lesson inside of it. All you need to do is prayerfully prepare for the needs of your family.”’
From Karen Schellenberg:
“When I look back over the years of raising my twelve children, the best
memories are of Family Home Evenings. When we met together as a family and felt the spirit of the Lord in our home, and grew together in spiritual strength, we experienced the most sublime of all experiences. Those times were the best. Those times are cherished now above all others, including exotic vacations and family outings. When we met in love and felt the love of our Father in Heaven in our own four walls, we triumphed. Now that our children are mostly grown and all of them strong in their testimonies, I can’t put a price on the value of those wonderful Family Home Evenings we shared.”
In a letter to the Church from the First Presidency, dated February 11, 1999, we read:
“We counsel parents and children to give highest priority to family prayer,
family home evening, gospel study and instruction, and wholesome family activities… The home is the basis of a righteous life, and no other instrumentality can take its place or fulfill its essential functions in carrying forward this God-give responsibility.”
Setting
Up a Club:
- Choose the group you want to involve. It works well with a ward Relief Society, a neighborhood group, or an extended family group. It works best if the people in the group are living in a close proximity to avoid mailing costs.
a. A Relief Society. Each sister in Relief Society makes a kit for her own style of family, such as: single adult, couple, a family with young children, or a family with older children. After she makes and uses her kit on her own family, she donates it to the FHE Club Library. Sisters are encouraged to use the kits even if they have not made one to donate. It works like a library. The kits are made available each Sunday and on Enrichment nights.
b. Neighborhood Group. A group of parents can get together and choose someone to head the group. They also decide how many kits are desired and who will make them. The kits are put into clasp envelopes and put into a “box” or “library” to be kept at the group leader’s home. A time is set for people to exchange kits. This can be done monthly or weekly depending on the decision of the group.
c. Extended Family Group. A leader is chosen (usually the one who wants to start a Club), and the group participating is defined. One methods is to make enough of one style of kit to exchange with all of the group. For example, if there are 30 people participating, each one would make 30 identical kits, and then exchange with everyone else ending up with 30 different kits. Using the library-style, everyone would make one kit and donate it to the library and check them out as needed. Some families make kits using the exchange method and then donate them, once they have used them, to a Relief Society library-style group.
2.
Purchase some
11”x 14” or larger clasp envelopes. The
clasp envelopes can be pre-printed at a print shop if you choose to. Each envelope should list the title of the
lesson, the contents (so all the pieces can be returned to the envelope), a
file number, the name of the person submitting it. You may also want to add lines for people to sign their names when
they use the kit and to add their comments and/or testimony of the kit
topic. Also purchase a plastic file
box that will hold your size of envelopes.
You may include a sign-out sheet.
Be creative.
3.
Determine your
strategy for obtaining kits for the library.
Decide how many and how
Often you want your members to add kits. You also want to set a time and place for
exchanging the kits. Evaluate your
library from time to time to keep a good variety of topics, or even assign
certain topics from the outset. Some
kits may need repairing or replacing of pieces, so you have a “pit-stop” box
for those, and someone assigned to keep up with repairs.