All About Dates!

What comes to your mind when you hear the word date?  The first thing that comes to my mind is my lovely wife and one of our first dates back in Texas.  Bev and I grew up about a half hour apart in Chilliwack and Abbotsford B.C., but we met in the great state of Texas at a Capernwray summer camp!   His Hill Ranch Camp is about an hour north of San Antonio.

One of us fell madly in love with the other, and the other wanted to concentrate on the campers!  The story changes depending on who's telling it.  :)  One of our first dates was going to The Goonies movie - in the theatre.  For perspective, The Goonies came out in 1985!  We've been on many dates since!

Over the years I have seen many of our seasonal staff members fall in love and begin to date.  Some of our staff date well, and...some of our staff not so well!  But I can't think of a better place to meet your potential spouse!

Something else that might come to your mind is edible dates!  To be honest dates don't often come to my mind as I'm trying to cut back.  When you Google dates there are some interesting facts about them.  Very nutritious (I'm guessing you would actually have to eat them to experience that), and high in fibre - as we all know one can't get enough fibre.  Something I'm guessing you didn't know about dates - apparently they promote natural labour!   So if you're in that neighbourhood of life start eating dates!

But the dates I'm talking about today are upcoming (important) dates in our Camp Evergreen calendar.  So get your calendar out, follow along, and plan on joining us for one or more "date" at Camp Evergreen!

WTDD (Write These Dates Down)

February 15 to18 is our Winter Family Fest.  Absolutely more fun then you've ever had in snow before.  Crokicurl, great food, and even rumours of a Rodeo?  We still have room so it's not too late to join us on the Family Day weekend.

April 5 to 7 is our Ladies Retreat.  A great speaker, moving worship, crafts, and will axe throwing return for a second year?

May 3 to 5 is our Father Son Retreat.  Dad's Root Beer, bacon burgers, bacon for breakfast, bacon for night snack?  This is a great opportunity to hang out with your son all weekend.

May 26 is our Daughter Day.  Built around daughters we pack as much into one day as possible.  Chapel in the morning, activities in the afternoon, and we end with a great supper!

June 8 is our Second Annual Tough Camper Run.  Some of you missed this date last year so make sure this gets in your calendar.  Running with your family through the woods, mud, and obstacles of Camp Evergreen, could be one of the best times of your life!  This is our second main fundraiser of the year.

And finally - June 22 is our Annual General Meeting in the morning and Open House in the afternoon.  As a society the AGM is a very important part of our year.  The Open House in the afternoon allows you to invite friends and neighbours to experience camp in a relaxed atmosphere.  We are planning one or two ball games this year so bring your glove and lucky bat.

Reaching Higher continues to move ahead behind the scenes.  We anticipate having to make some major decisions soon and ask that you continue to keep the board of directors in your prayers.

Thanks again for your support.


Bob "Ranger" Kroeker
Executive Director

A G M

Our Annual General Meeting and Open House are tomorrow, June 23!  Before you run away because you read the words AGM let me remind you that Camp Evergreen's AGM is a little different.  We'll start with a few warm ups because every AGM needs a few warm ups!  We'll sing a couple of camp songs and two staff members will share a brief testimony of how Camp Evergreen has impacted their lives.

Kevin will give a great, exciting, and understandable (maybe short?) financial report.  We'll update everyone where we're at with Reaching Higher (our capital campaign).  I'll share my passion for summer camp and about half way through we'll stop for ice cream.  I see you didn't run from the word ice cream!  Right there in the middle of the meeting, before lunch, real live ice cream!  Mentioning ice cream was enough to get Helmut and I to attend.

Three new board members will need to be voted in and our board chair Eric will give us a great report!  (No pressure Eric!)  Courtney will be sharing about what is happening at camp and we'll get our first peek at next years summer camps and dates.  We'll end the meeting by heading over to our Fort fire circle to dedicate it and pray for our summer staff.  There, that doesn't sound so bad does it?

After lunch we have our Open House where activities will be open and the day ends with a BBQ, and you guessed it - more ice cream.  It's helpful to know if you're coming so we can better prepare meals.  If you haven't already let us know please give the office a call.

Thanks for your continued support.

Bob "Ranger" Kroeker
Executive Director

Thirty-Six

What comes to your mind when you hear Annual General Meeting?  As a kid I remember associating Kentucky Fried Chicken with my churches AGM.  I'm not sure if that was an actual AGM I'm remembering, but I for sure remember enjoying the chicken!  It seems to me that during the actual "meeting" I would just run around and play in places I shouldn't.  Hiding way up above the baptism tank was always a little scary.

As a pastor I remember using snacks at one of my churches in an effort to get people to attend.  I think my favourite church snack is Elsa's lemon thingys.  They are a cross between a danish and a strudel, flaky (good flaky not bad flaky), and oh my lanta do they taste good.  I'm pretty sure folks came out just because of her dessert!

Camp Evergreen's AGM is coming up in just 36 days.  That's plenty of time to make plans to attend or adjust some of your current plans so you can attend on Saturday, June 23rd.  Our AGM is one of the most important calendar days of the year for us as a Society.  Article 6.1 in our constitution states we need to have an AGM within six months of our year end - December 31st.  June 23rd is cutting it close, but we like to live on the edge!

Article 6.3 states we need to give you at least 21 days notice.  We've been talking about the AGM for months now, but in case you missed it - in 36 days we are having our AGM!  (June 23rd)  :)

One of the most important parts of the meeting is electing our board members who ensure Camp Evergreen keeps operating in the manner our Society expects.  We'll hear some reports from the board, myself and new this year is our financial audit.  (I was hesitant to use the word audit in an effort to get  you to attend, but Kevin our treasurer reports in normal language so you should be OK)

We usually sing a few camp songs and start with warm ups.  We will hear a few testimonies from staff members who have seen their lives changed at Evergreen.  Often we try and have small group discussions on a wide variety of topics that will help us do our ministry better.  And the other important thing...we have ice cream right in the middle of the meeting!  You read that correctly.  How many AGM's have you attended where they serve ice cream?

Photo Credit Tammy Hanratty

I've often said that Camp Evergreen is only as strong as it's support.  That is true.  Without your prayers, financial giving and volunteering, we would simply not be able to be as effective as we are with our ministry.  However, I recently thought of this from a different angle.

Photo Credit Tammy Hanratty

Not only are we as strong as our supporters, but as our support grows or increases, so do our ministry opportunities.  Our current ministry is huge.  We are seeing lives transformed every season.  But our ministry potential is astronomical!

Imagine having a full camp year round.  Imagine more campers coming to know Jesus.  Imagine more public schools joining us, more guests with different faiths.  Imagine more activity options and more structures for Rolf to build...

I hope you can imagine joining us on Saturday June 23rd? 

Thanks for your continued support.

Bob "Ranger" Kroeker
Executive Director