Friday, October 30, 2009
Ministry turns shyness upside down
Priscilla Richardson is columnist The Botetourt View. You can contact her at 981-3430 or via e-mail.
Priscilla Richardson
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Cloverdale's Jennifer Snider taught herself how to juggle when she was in the fourth grade, never thinking how useful that skill would be as an adult. Self-described as shy during her days at Lord Botetourt High School, she amazes old friends who look her up on Facebook and find a clown.
Snider has good reason to remember her days at LBHS where she met her husband, Douglas. "He was my brother's best friend," she said. After an associate's degree from Virginia Western she launched her first career in a doctor's office.
That job came in handy when her son suffered from a continuous cough. "The doctor's office was also an allergy clinic. They kept telling me to get rid of [my] cats." So she did and the boy's cough cleared up. She would have preferred to have many cats, but instead has a parrot and two dogs, plus a "rabbit [that] counts as my kitty now."
When her son reached second grade, she started her clowning. "At first he was embarrassed with it, his mom dressing up like a kid. But now he has accepted it, and has started doing balloon animals."
Why clowning? "At my church, I was looking for a ministry and knew it needed to be with kids. But a lot of the ministries they were offering didn't touch my heart, so I used the internet to see what other churches were doing. I ran across First Baptist in Roanoke and they have a clown ministry. I thought that looked neat. But I've always been shy and reserved. No way I can do that."
However, she prayed about it and bought "tons of books." Then she learned about a former Ringling clown here in Botetourt, Leon McBryde, who runs clown camps. It even turned out her husband knew the clown's son. Then she connected with the woman running the First Baptist clown ministry, who turned into her "second mama," helping with everything.
Snider's own mother made her first costume for an October 2006 event at her church, Fincastle Baptist. Back then, "all I did was balloon animals." After working for an entertainment company appearing at mostly children's birthday parties, she has started her own business and offers entertainment for all ages.
For groups, she leads games that used to be popular in pre-television days. In one, children line up into two teams and try to carry a plastic egg in a spoon as a relay race. In another, everyone stands around holding the edges of a large flat parachute. The fun come from bouncing things off of it by shaking the fabric. Plus she offers more than clowning. Varied costumes let her play a princess, a fairy godmother, an elf, a pirate, or Little Red Riding Hood even a hillbilly.
Snider started her work to minister to others. But she found that working as a clown could help others minister to her. When her father-in-law died in an auto wreck, she thought she'd postpone her clown act launch because of her sadness. "But my daughter told me, 'you have to,' because I'd promised God. So I did my crying before I got there. "After about two hours it was wonderful to see all the smiles on all the kids' faces, and in turn they ministered to me. I knew this is what I wanted to do."
Now with her Fun and Games Party Company, her web site, gemstonetheclown.com, and her cell phone, 520- 9381, she does a lot of parties and events. Her ministry has turned into a business growing from word of mouth from satisfied folks.
