Winding Down

Our busy fall is abwickeln (winding down) and our slower guest group season is finally on the horizon as we will be saying good-bye to seven of our fall staff members on October 31st.  We have been working long days with a guest group or summer camp on site just about every day since April 10th!  That's two hundred and five days!  No wonder most of us are a little tired!  (It feels like we've been sleeping in the middle of the road!)  While summer camp is my favourite season, there is something to be said about our slower pace during the winter season which allows us to rest and re-charge.

With winter guest groups mostly on weekends it gives us as a staff the opportunity to take some time during the day to read God's Word and to watch the Alpha series as a staff.  This winter we are planning on working our way through our Mennonite Brethren statement of faith.

We're busy (and by we I mean mostly Rolf and Dylan) getting ready for our 10th annual Pond Hockey Tournament on Saturday January 12th.  We're excited to celebrate 10 years of Pond Hockey and are inviting everyone to experience the fun day.  If you have not joined us, this is the year you should!  New for this year - Crokicurl - a cross between crokinole and curling!  We're keeping our eyes open for some used curling rocks so if  you know of a curling club that is upgrading and wanting to get rid of their old rocks let us know!  Hurry Hard!

Reaching Higher and the new lodge continues to move ahead.  We are still working hard in the background with floor plans, engineering requirements etc.  The good news is that our geotechnical report confirms that we can build the lodge where we want with a view overlooking the lower playing field.  The set back will be based on whether the lodge has a basement or a second floor.

Bob T, Shane, Don and Rolf spent most of the day today drilling holes trying to find the best spot to send our treated septic water.  The plan is to treat the grey water here on site and then send it somewhere on site!  Because of our high water table (read swamp) we have limited neighbourhoods in which we can go!
 

I was reminded again yesterday of one of the reasons we want to build a new lodge.  St. James Ambrose was back with their grade 7 band.  We had instrument clinicians everywhere!  In the dining hall, in the Welcome Centre, the mini lodge etc.  The trombones this time were in the seasonal staff living room (sorry to any staff who were off and trying to sleep in) and the euphoniums were in the foyer of the block washroom!  We had a guest group practising in the bathroom!

As I mentioned in my last blog the overall financial support for Camp Evergreen continues to grow.  It's exciting to be part of this ministry and thank you very much for your generous support.  However, our general fund donations continue to be behind last year and as we draw closer to the end of the year this becomes a concern as we work towards a balanced budget.

Thanks for your continued support.

Bob "Ranger" Kroeker
Executive Director

Extra Curricular

Can we talk pancakes for a second?  Who doesn't like pancakes?  Well I know some of you don't like pancakes, but I'm pretty much a pancake lover.  Breakfast, lunch or supper it doesn't really matter.  Denny's Grand Slam with pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon along with a glass of ice and a glass of milk.  I'm getting hungry just blogging about it!

I'm not super big on crepes or what we would call German pancakes as a kid.  (Entschuldigung, meine deutschen Freunde!)  Thin pancakes do taste pretty good when you spread lemon juice, sugar and whip cream on them.  (Especially with the whip cream in a can that you accidentally spray directly into your mouth - hypothetically speaking of course!)

I'm also not big on adding extra curricular activity to pancakes - blueberries, chocolate chips, bananas, whole wheat etc.  I'm a firm believer in the "pure" pancake, swimming in syrup, and if there's any left over whip cream from the crepes...

Why am I going on about pancakes today?  This coming Sunday - June 3, we are having two pancake breakfasts at lunch.  (Just saying pancake lunch felt a little awkward.)  A crew of us will be at Dalhousie Church after the morning service and a second crew will be up in Edmonton at Bob and Marianne Thiessen's starting at 12 noon.  A third pancake breakfast (this time at breakfast) will be on Saturday June 16 in Linden.

Photo Credit Tammy Hanratty

The purpose of these three meals is to raise money for our campership aid.  In 2018 we have already designated $24,000 to help campers who otherwise could not come to camp - come to camp!  The board has said that we will not turn any camper away due to finances.  How cool is that!  We are looking for your help to make sure these campers can come.  Don't like pancakes?  Can't make the dates or locations above?  You can easily skip the pancakes and send your cheque directly to camp marked "campership aid!"

We have just heard back officially from Canada Summer Jobs that we will not be getting any funding this year because of our beliefs.  While the result is not surprising it is still disheartening.  In some ways I feel that our Prime Minister is more supportive of faith and religion in other countries than here in his own country with the people he was elected to serve.  Sorry for the rant!  :)

Currently we have students on staff who really need the extra income the grants provide to get them back to Bible college and university in fall.  Last year we received $30,000 from the Canada Summer Job grant program and we would like to raise that again this year.  It would be very encouraging if as an Evergreen community we could rally around our seasonal staff and support them better than their own government.  Bev and I will dig a little deeper.  Will you join us?  Please mark your cheques "CSJ."

Thanks for your continued support and I hope to see you at our AGM on Saturday June 23rd!

Bob "Ranger" Kroeker
Executive Director