During the summer months and occasionally throughout the school year our students participate in purposefully designed activities that center around service projects. The name of the event speaks for itself, the students begin the day in service (past project locations include: Houston Food Bank, HAAM, Step Healthy Day, Arbor Terrace Retirement Community), then share a meal together and usually end with some time in fellowship doing something recreational like mini-golf or attending an improv comedy show.
Each summer students who have completed 6-8th grade attend a 3-night retreat that focuses on mission work. Typical locations for this trip are within the surrounding cities of Houston (i.e., Baytown or Livingston). Students stay at a UM church locally and provide two days of work for that community. Projects include yard work, painting, and minor construction. Each workday is followed up with evening activities like swimming, bowling or large group games and nightly worship.
This annual weekend retreat occurs at the end of each summer before the new school year begins. It is a time for bonding and relationship building within our youth group and has served to cement strong friendships among the students that attend Lakeside. We schedule many fun activities like visiting the Pleasure Pier and playing mini-golf. We also serve each year at an urban farm called Seeding Galveston and attend Sunday morning worship at Galveston Central UMC.