Timeline

As both the Red House and Green House are getting close to completion I thought it would be fun to take a look back on how it all started.  A trip down memory lane as it were.

On Thursday October 20th, 2016, the excavator arrived all the way from Edmonton to dig the holes for the new homes.  Later on that same day, Craig, Jordan, Rolf and Kevin put the final stakes in the ground to map out house number one.

The next day, October 21st, Rolf was busy building a road back to house number two.

Our good friend Arnold from Edmonton, arrived on Saturday the 22nd to start digging the basements.  It seems like a long time ago already!  Craig needed to do some fine tuning on the dig and so he brought his own mini excavator!  (BYOME)  Let me say one more time how much we (I) like and appreciate Craig! 

Remember when the blog word of the week was schrakjlijch?  Well when we started working with the footings on October 28th it was very, very schrakjlijch down in the hole.

On November 15th, while it was snowing outside, we were pouring the basement walls and by the 17th the basement walls were being sprayed with a black, tar like material.

A month after we started digging the basements our building packages from Star Building arrived on site.  A big shout out to David for taking care of us at Star.  And on November 29th, the first beam on house number one is up!  I remember making a comment about beam me up Scotty - in reference to our framer Scott.  Thanks again Scott and Brian for serving us so well through the good weather, cold weather, super cold weather and then...the mud!

It was a cold winter and I remember nail guns having a hard time working never mind the framers and volunteers.  Here is Don from Gem on December 1st screwing the floor down.  Right where Don is standing there is now a hardwood floor.  And we had two father/son combo's helping us on December 3rd.  Richard and Ethan from Gem and Brian and Kurt from Calgary.

By December 22nd - less than a month after starting - house number one was looking like - well it was looking like a house was supposed to look like!  :)  And on December 28th one of our Alberta Mennonite Brethren pastors - Laurence was braving the cold and helping finish the garage.

January 4th, 2017, the first beams were going up on house number two.  It was very cold, and if you look hard in the background you'll see another father/son combo, Walt and Nathan from Edmonton also braving the cold as work continues to progress.

January 20th saw the tin roof up on house number one.  A big thanks to Ron and his crew from Duchess who installed the roof on both homes.  You may remember my reference to tin roof ice cream - tin roof is one great tasting ice cream.

One of my favourite Reaching Higher stories comes out of the two roofs.  We received one invoice for both roofs in the amount of $4,000.  In the same envelope as the invoice, was a donation cheque for $5,000.  If you think about it, not only did we get two free roofs, we actually made $1,000!!  How fun is that?  Because of the incredible support we are getting, both homes are being built for approximately half their retail value!

Thanks very much for your continued support as we push to finish the year strong financially.  Stay tuned next week as we continue down the staff home timeline.

Bob "Ranger" Kroeker
Executive Director

May The Sixth Be With You!

Consider this your official invitation to help us reach higher by attending our Annual Spring fundraiser on Saturday, May the Sixth!  We're excited about our Star Wars theme and are just a little sad that we are off by two days and can't say - May the Fourth be with you!  Gery Schubert will be joining us in full costume, character and regalia as we transform the gym at Dalhousie Church into a far off galaxy!  Contact camp to register.

Lots of progress on the homes over the last couple of weeks.  Our good friends from Duchess were back to finish roof number two.  A BIG thanks to Ron at Norseman Metal Supply and to the crew, Alex, Jacob, Corny, Choppo and Orlando for coming back a second time to tin our roof!  It is a huge blessing to receive not only one roof but two roofs from these generous individuals.
 

Our staff under the tutelage of Walt insulated the walls in house number one.  Scott and Brian were working hard this week on the front and rear decks.

Our plumber was back working on both homes and our furnace is ready to go in house number two.

What's next?  We're waiting for the rough electrical in house number two. Once that house passes inspection we will insulate.  We want to get heat in the homes and let them sit, settle and dry out for about six weeks.  During those six weeks we will be working hard on raising the funds needed to finish the homes.  If you would consider helping us by making a donation to our Reaching Higher campaign that would be great!

Our summer camp numbers continue to be about 100 campers ahead of last year at this time.  And we're excited to share that it looks like we have enough staff for our busy guest group season starting in May!


Please continue to pray for us.  We know that the enemy does not appreciate the excitement, momentum and lives being transformed by the power of Jesus that we are experiencing.  Your prayer is needed on a daily basis.

Thanks for your continued support.

Bob "Ranger" Kroeker
Executive Director

Trombones In The Bathroom!

Last week Bev, Courtney and I took a road trip to the west coast to visit with our staff who are currently attending Columbia Bible College.  It was a real treat to connect with them and to be able to take them out for supper at Red Robins.  Not only was my burger very good, (don't forget the bottomless fries!) it was fun to tell camp stories and reminisce about last summer.  Our staff are really the heart and soul of Camp Evergreen and the main reason for our success as a camp.  We're excited that these staff can spend time deepening their relationship with Christ and their knowledge of the Bible at CBC.  We would love to see them all back this summer!

The new homes continue to move forward in spite of a -37 feeling like -45 Wednesday morning!  Our electrician was back and is close to finishing the first house.  We've started strapping the second house (remember, strapping is a good thing) in preparation for those fabulous boys from Gem and Duchess to come back for roof number two.  We met with Ben and Craig this week to talk about cabinets.  Ben's excitement for the homes and Camp Evergreen is very contagious.  All the kitchen, laundry room and bathroom cabinets will be custom built (with love) and installed at no charge to camp!  That is exciting and that is worth sharing!

In other excitement I've discovered the selfie stick.  Similar to Crocs, in that I never thought I would use them, a selfie stick is actually fun and simple to use as you can tell by this blog.  I'm still working on focusing and where to look in the phone.  My kids are already dreading the next holiday with their dad, and as you can tell the staff are pretty "excited" about it as well!

Our two family camps filled up this year in less than three hours.  You read that correctly.  Last year our family camp filled so quick we added another one.  This year we were ready (so we thought) with two family camps.  Registration opened at 9 am and both camps were full before noon.  We are now in the early stages of planning a winter family camp on the February 2018 Family Day weekend.

What about those trombones?  One of the reasons we need a new lodge is because we are running out of room.  Cochrane High School Band joined us this week for their band camp and the only room left for the trombones to have their clinic was in our outdoor washroom block foyer.  Not necessarily the best place to practice, although the acoustics are pretty good.  I guess the plus was they didn't have to ask permission to visit the washroom!

As we continue to reach higher would you consider becoming a monthly donor to either our general fund or Reaching Higher campaign.

Thanks again for your support.

Bob "Ranger" Kroeker
Executive Director

Are You Sitting Down...

If you're not sitting down you might want to for this weeks blog.  Starting last Saturday it was a very busy week here at Evergreen.  In case you missed it, Saturday was our annual Pond Hockey Tournament and we raised $30,000!  A big shout out to all who participated, volunteered, played and donated.  Craig Wiens and his Dalhousie Divers won the coveted top fundraiser trophy and took home this years prize, the Evergreen hockey jersey.

Lots (and by lots I really mean LOTS!) of action on the house build this week.  Our plumber started plumbing, the windows and doors went in and we now have up and down stairs to the basement.  And if that is not enough, we need to talk about the tin roof action.  By tin roof we're not talking tin roof sundae ice cream - which by the way tastes very good!  (tin roof is one of my favourite flavours in case you ever take me out for ice cream...)








The tin roof we're talking about is our first house!  Through one of our Gem MB Church connections, Norseman Metal Supply not only supplied the tin and installed the tin, they did this at no cost to camp!  (that's why you should be sitting down!)  A HUGE thanks to Ron and the rest of his team out of Duchess.  Ron brought with him Chapo, Jacob, Alex and his son Brock - who at age five - was picking up scrap pieces of tin for his dad!  Gem MB Church supplied some extra hands: Andrew, Dylan, Peter, Richard and Ethan - thanks for coming, it was great to see you here.  You will recognize Richard and Ethan.  This was their third time volunteering as father and son.

Craig, Jordan and Gary were here Friday making sure things are in place for our plumber who is coming back Monday.  Gary moved the laundry room door over a couple of inches.  Jordan was busy with I P D (has nothing to do with an internal police department) at the fireplace.  Craig did finally realize after a moment of reflection that the tub didn't go in the middle of the bedroom.  Good thing Kevin was here!  Apparently he was just measuring in the middle of the bedroom.  (measure once cut twice as the saying goes :))

And if that wasn't enough, the highlight for me this week was when two of our campers made a donation for Reaching Higher.  Can we stop and talk about that for a moment.   Two campers, at a young age, on their own initiative, donated a significant amount of their own money towards camp.  It makes me incredibly proud and humble to be part of this ministry.  It also challenges me and motivates me in my own support of Evergreen.

What's next?  Its time to start thinking about drywall, flooring, painting and appliances.  If you or someone you know has some good connections please let us know!

Thanks again for your continued support as we reach higher to see more lives transformed by the power of Jesus!

Bob "Ranger" Kroeker
Executive Director

They Are New Every Morning...

Lamentations 3:22-23 - "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

I was blessed to see this sunrise earlier in the week and was reminded of God's faithfulness here at Camp Evergreen.  God has been faithful in our staff home build and in the many other projects we were able to complete this year.  However, most importantly, God has been faithful in transforming many, many lives.

One of our young staff members said the following this past summer, "I want to live a more God centred lifestyle at home.  I want to be prepared to witness to my classmates, to get connected with my church and keep up with my daily devotions."  Seeing first hand the growth in our staff and campers lives never gets old.  As a staff we count it a privilege to have a small part in seeing lives transformed by the power of Jesus.

If I were to use one word to describe this past week it would be - volunteers!  Who knew we could get so many volunteers just before Christmas!

Joel, Christoph, Jewdy, Katrina and Laurence joined us for the first time.  Ethan, Richard, Walt, Barry and Brian returned for at least a second time!  How cool is that!  (very cool)  We've now had two brothers (Laurence and Richard) and a nephew (Ethan) join us.  Ethan - one of our summer campers - was helping us sheet the roof by cutting plywood.  (remember sheeting is a good thing, not a prank in building talk)  Laurence is one of our Alberta Conference pastors and could easily moonlight with a chop saw - he was that good!

Barry was back this week to "bury" the electrical cable which allowed Rolf to work his backfill magic.  Christoph and Jewdy, two of our former "Germans" are here on a holiday and made their way over to help.  Thank you very much.

From my "un-builder" eyes it looks like the first house is getting very close to being framed.  The garage walls went up yesterday and the trusses are going up today.  I'm excited to see how many lives will be transformed through the ministry that will happen in these homes.

As a staff we are looking forward to reaching higher in 2017 and I'm personally very excited to see what God's faithfulness will bring in the new year.

Thanks very much for your continued support.

Bob "Ranger" Kroeker
Executive Director