More than 60 community children got a break from their summer routines this week by attending the Montevallo community Bible school held at the First United Methodist Church.

This year three of the town’s churches joined together to provide a bigger and better vacation Bible school experience for the kids, said volunteer children’s director John Allen Baggett.

Along with University Baptist, Montevallo Presbyterian and St. Andrews Episcopal churches, the group was able to host Bible school July 19 through July 23 from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. each day for three year olds through sixth graders.

Children participated for free and took part in crafts, snacks, science, recreation and Bible stories each day. This year’s theme was Galactic Blast.

With the help of more than 50 community volunteers, Baggett said they could not have put on such a large and successful program alone.

“We’ve created a good sense of community by coming together,” he said. “We have done much better together than we could have on our own.”

The children at the Boys and Girls Club in Montevallo also joined in on the fun by participating in the week’s activities and making several of the props.

“This has been really good for these kids,” said Freda Shivers, Director of the Montevallo Boys and Girls Club. “Many of them have never been to church or don’t have home churches of their own.”

First United Methodist gave Bibles to each of the older children attending the Bible school. Pastor Brian Wyatt said they plan on partnering with the other churches and putting on the whole program again next year.

“It worked wonderfully this year,” he said. “Next year we’d like to encourage more and more people to get involved.”