A family fun day is a common occurrence for many churches in the summer but when you've just had a volcano only two miles away, the distraction is very much needed.
Puna Baptist Church, who had twelve church families displaced, held theirs for the people of Puna who had experienced evacuation because of the recent volcano eruption. They called it 'A Day to Be Normal for All of Puna!'
"We want it to be a day of normalcy for anyone affected by the evacuation," Pat Mullin, event organizer told Hawaii Tribune Herald, "So what we're doing, we set it up so the families can come, the parents can just relax, let their kids have fun, without worrying about the day-to-day stuff with everything else they got going on."
Free hygiene kits were offered by the church and a doctor and a counsellor were also were on site.
Marlene Tamashiro runs the recovery centre for the church and said Pahoa churches had banded together from the beginning to help those displaced.
Puna Baptist Church have been providing a clothes washing service which they've asked their members to pray for: "Pray for the Laundry Voucher Ministry to be an effective opportunity to share Jesus with the Puna community" their website reads.
Tamashiro estimated at least 75 percent of its members have been directly impacted, either by losing a home or knowing someone who has.
One church member wrote on facebook: "Puna Baptist Church held an event today called Family Fun Day for the people of Puna. It was a day to just forget about the volcano and have some family fun. It certainly lived up to its name! We had close to 500 people show!
"I was at the registration desk and loved seeing the children's eyes light up as I told them about all of the things they could do! The waterslide was, by far, the biggest hit!
"We were so busy! What a blessing to all who participated! I love my church!"
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