By: Juliana Muniz, Adventist Record, courtesy Adventist Review
For Carolin Schmitz, there is something incredibly rewarding in children’s ministry. With her creative personality and willingness to serve, she founded Happy Hands Art Time, an award-winning, non-profit community art program that has been her ministry for a decade.
Happy Hands — developed to inspire and encourage creativity with toddlers — held its first session in 2011 at Nunawading Adventist church in Victoria.
“When the local newspaper came to take some pictures and do a short story, it made the front page that week, and registrations naturally went crazy,” Carolin explained.
The ministry expanded after a request from Edinburgh Primary School, something Carolin had not even considered. Thirteen locations have since opened across New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania (pre-COVID-19).
Happy Hands Art Time was born after difficult times changed Carolin’s perspective. “We’d just spent 10 years running our own business, and we were picking up the pieces after losing absolutely everything. Having to declare bankruptcy with two very young children was not easy,” she explains.
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