“The Dandelion Club” is an indoor play cafe for military families where parents can connect over coffee and kids can connect through play. We are sponsored by the Fort Belvoir Chapel Ministries and set up inflatables, toys, coffee and snacks in a Fort Belvoir chapel building. The intent is for families to come to a safe space where kids can get out their energy and parents can turn off and find other adults to talk to. We are a place where families can become more familiar with what the chapel ministries have to offer.
Our Mission: Our mission is to cultivate community by creating indoor play spaces for military families.
Our Purpose: Leading people “one step closer to Jesus”
Our Vision: Our hope is that “The Dandelion Club” would live into the metaphor of a dandelion, easily spreading its seeds to provide indoor play spaces at every major military installation so military children and their families can connect with each other.
Our Values:
- You matter to god and you matter to us
- God created you uniquely special.
- Jesus loves you and He wants to be your friend
Where did “The Dandelion Club” get its name?
Did you know the official flower for a military child is the dandelion?
According to Army.mil, dandelions grow and bloom anywhere they plant their roots, representing joy, perseverance, happiness, endurance, and hope.
What’s more, when you find a dandelion, you find more than just one. They thrive with others.
The Dandelion Club wants to build on that! Our hope is to provide indoor play spaces at every major military installation so military children and their families can connect with each other. The children can build friendships through play while parents build friendships through coffee.
For another installation to use the Dandelion Club brand, each space would offer coffee, water, and prepackaged snacks while also providing enough room for children to play and for parents to connect and support each other. The spaces would be sponsored by the installation’s Chapel Ministries, and have regular hours, allowing parents to come on their schedules, find community, and grow that much closer to God.
It’s a God-sized dream to bring these play spaces to every major military installation and we need God to make it happen. While we are already in the works for realizing this dream, we will bear in mind that it will come to fruition on God’s timeline.
We have finished our first season at Fort Belvoir which was in the Fall of 2023. We plan on starting another season in February of 2024.
The Dandelion Club 