Duck Wrangling 101

By time the new lodge is built we should be quite proficient at wrangling ducks in a row here at Camp Evergreen.  In response to the seemingly never ending number of ducks waiting to be lined up, we have begun discussion on adding duck shooting this summer as an activity to help keep the ducks under control!  Just kidding!  But it does seem like the ducks keep on coming.  Or maybe they just keep getting out of the row.

Case in point.  Our new septic system duck.  We just found out that the county will not give us permission to build the new lodge until our septic system has been approved.  We knew all along that we needed a new septic system, and that it needed to be approved by the ministry of environment, but news that we had to have approval before starting construction - was a new duck to us.

Things often don't move very fast on government desks so we would ask you to pray for favour, and a speedy (positive) decision.

The second duck is our ground water evaluation.  I mentioned this duck before and this is the one duck  that keeps growing until the point our friend Bob Thiessen started calling it a goose.  When  all is said and done the "evaluation" part will cost us $50,000.  All our wells need to be up to today's standards which means the best case is upgrading our wells.  The worst case is installing new wells.  Upgrading our wells is a cheaper option, but it means that at a certain point we'll be in the middle of our busy guest group season without water!  The new well route will be more expensive, but less disruptive.

It's safe to say that the rules and regulations today are far more strenuous then back in the late 1970's when the current lodge was built.  In anticipation of the ducks getting in a row we need to sense the urgency and follow up with our commitments.  Now is the time to support the financial duck!  :)

Foothills Outfitters kitchen continues to move forward.  The funds have arrived and the first load of lumber has been purchased and delivered.  We're pretty excited about how this kitchen will vastly improve our food and eating experience across the creek.  Rolf is busy tongue and grooving (we think Rolf is pretty groovy!) the base together.  This afternoon as a staff we were able to celebrate Rolf's 10ish years here at Evergreen.  Thanks Rolf for all you do for us!

Another exciting thing to report is the number of summer kitchen volunteers we already have lined up.  We set a goal this year of 4 kitchen helpers per week to make the cooking load lighter for everyone.  That means everyone will have either a morning or afternoon shift.  We're only looking for six more volunteers, two for each of the following weeks:

July 7-12
August 11-16
August 18-23

If you can join us in the kitchen or need more information please connect with Lane in the office.  At this point I'm very excited to share that all our summer staff are in place!  Thanks program team for your hard work and to God for providing our staffing needs for another summer.  Please remember to donate to our CSJ fund as we were denied federal staff grants for a second year in a row.

Speaking of dates - these should already be in your calendar but one of the practical ways to support us is by attending one (or more!) of our events.

June 8 - Tough Camper Run
June 22 - Annual General Meeting followed by the Open House followed by the first Alumni Day
July 17 - Alumni Afternoon

As always it's helpful for us to know if you're coming so we can have enough ice cream on hand!  Please call the office if you're planning on attending.

Thanks for your continued support, we appreciate it very much.  If you're ever in the neighbourhood please stop by I would love to show you around.

Bob "Ranger" Kroeker
Executive Director

Ducks...Lot's of Ducks

Remember me telling you about all the ducks we need to get in a row before we can start the new lodge this coming October?  (In case you missed it, the board voted to start the new lodge this October!)  Well Finn is doing his best with the ducks!  Since we last visited, some more unexpected ducks showed up in our pond!  There seems to be ducks coming out of the woodwork so it's a good thing we have a golden retriever on staff!  Way back in August, we hired a geo technical company to drill test holes where we want the new lodge to go.  They came, they drilled, they reported, and said yes, the ground where you want to build the new lodge is solid.  We continued to move ahead.

Last week we submitted our application for a development permit and were planning to start removing trees at the beginning of April - while our busy season is still about a month away.  And then, just like that, another duck showed  up!  It seems that even though we have a professional report on the stability of the ground, the county needs to still talk to the provincial government about our set back.  We're optimistic that the Alberta government will recognize our report, but you never know.  That means rather than starting to cut down the trees as we had planned...we find ourselves trying to get some more ducks in a row!

Another duck we found this week was the provincial election!  Who would have thought an election could be a duck?  If you didn't know, just prior to an election, counties are not allowed to "bother" the provincial government.  This could very well mean a delay in our development permit!

But not all ducks are bad.  The final duck for this blog is a 350K duck.  Since we voted to go ahead with the new lodge, $350,000 in pledges has come in.  How exciting is that?  This lodge will not get built if we all just think it's a good idea and it stops there.  This lodge will not get built if we all think someone else could and should donate.  The only way this will get built is if we all participate together, if we all give sacrificially.  We're not giving to a building and we're not giving simply to put up concrete walls.  We're giving for the opportunity to share the life changing Good News of Jesus Christ like never before.

We have a unique and distinctly powerful formula here at Camp Evergreen.  Guests return as campers every year.  Every summer campers come to know Jesus for the first time.  It's as simple as that and that is what we're giving towards.  Eric, our board chair, shared from Luke 11:8 at our last board meeting.  Jesus encouraged us to ask with shameless audacity.  It is with this same shameless audacity we ask you to join us, as we "tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, His power, and the wonders He has done."  Ps 78:4

Thanks for your continued support.

Bob "Ranger" Kroeker (And Finn)
Executive Director