Three Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty

We haven't exactly started to pack yet, but we cut the ribbon to celebrate the new staff homes at our AGM at the end of June.  Kevin Thiessen, our building chair, along with the rest of the building committee and the Underwood family were on hand to celebrate and pray for the new staff homes.  We're excited to see the homes get to this stage and are very excited to see them completed.

Both homes have been sitting for about a month as we were waiting for them to settle.  House number one has settled about 4.5 inches!  Thankfully its been an equal settle - not just the front or back.  The frost is finally gone and we're pretty confident that the homes have finished their downward trend.  We've been landscaping around the homes making sure the water will flow away instead of towards the basement.  Craig let us know that the drywall guy was coming to get his final "take off."  Apparently he's not flying in, just figuring out how much drywall is needed to finish the homes.

Reaching Higher continues to move forward as we finished up our new video and brochure.  We're working behind the scenes to get both of those up on this web site as soon as we can.  Our goal is to continue to visit with people this summer asking for support.  It is a large project and we need you to continue to give above and beyond to see it become a reality.

Summer 2017 has started.  My absolute favourite time of year.  It gives me great joy to see and hear the campers running around my office as I write this blog.  Our theme this summer is Shine and we are excited to see God's love shine through us and into the campers lives.  Our first week was one of two short weeks this summer and included our first ever Junior Explorer camp.  The weather was hot and our staff did a great job of giving our campers the best week of their summer.  Currently we are 83 campers ahead of last summers total.

This week is our first full week and one of our largest camps.  One of the reasons we are reaching higher with a new lodge is the number 3,840.  Three thousand, eight hundred and forty is the number of plates of food our kitchen (small outdated kitchen) is putting out - just this week!  If you think that is a little crazy - you're not alone!

Staff who eat at the end of the meal line will not have a seat in the dining hall and will not have a dinner plate!  They will be eating outside on a paper plate.  Thankfully we have a gazebo to eat in as its been raining over a couple of the meals this week.

Our lack of space is a good challenge to have and tells me we are doing a great job of seeing lives transformed by the power of Jesus.

Thanks for your continued support.

Bob "Ranger" Kroeker
Executive Director

Record Breaking Fourth Time!

Our good friends Walter and Don are back volunteering on the house build.  Walt is back for his record breaking fourth time and Don is back for his third time.  How cool is that?  And not only is Don back volunteering, he brought us some more Gem beef!  Thanks Gem for keeping us in the beef.  Don't forget the forecast for next week, we are still looking for volunteers and it will be a good week to be here!  You might even get away without long johns!  (unless of course you're talking donuts)

The outside walls are up on house number two and today was spent "strapping" the first house.  Some of you might be thinking the same thing when you hear the word strapping.  You might remember waiting for your father to come home from work after your mother read on your report card - for the second report in a row - Bobby (for example only) continues to be the class clown.  I can still hear it in my mind, "Just wait until your father gets home..."  Don't worry, this kind of strapping is totally OK and I had good reasons for being the class clown in grade four!

Any guesses to what this is?  We reached higher this week with a grease interceptor!  I know, you might be rolling your eyes thinking Ranger you're stretching it, reaching higher with grease?  Well we eat a lot of bacon here at Evergreen and we've had our 4" sewer line plug up with a very solid white, greasy looking blob.  (hope you are not eating right now! And if you are, you should put your cell phone away at the table)  The last time the steam truck came to blow out the line it took eight (8) hours to unclog!  So this is good news all around.  Bring on the bacon as we reach higher and hopefully we won't need the steam truck for a long time!

 












Pond Hockey is tomorrow!  Saturday, January 14th.  The man and woman hours of preparation continue to mount as we are now in the final hours.  9 teams are joining us this year and we're looking forward to a great day.  The forecast is a high of -1!  That's almost plus temperatures!  There is no cost for spectators, just let us know you're coming so we can prepare to feed you.  And since it's one of our two main fundraisers for the year don't forget your cheque book - we have a great silent auction selection.

Thanks again for your support,

Bob "Ranger" Kroeker
Executive Director