the green spot blog

5 horses for 5 days The countdown is truly on. Five days. That's it! FIVE DAYS until registrations start pouring in. When the countdown to the right of what you're reading hits "0" we can officially say that summer is coming. In light of camp registration opening up - I thought I would run through what each camp looks like, feels like, and what your son or daughter can expect so that you can make a more informed choice when January 3rd comes around next week. This would be a good blog to pass around to your friends who are thinking about registering their kids in camps. We understand that the first time you sign your kids up for camp can be a daunting one - hopefully, this will make it easier. If you would like a more in depth description of each camp, just head to our Summer Camps page on the website and click "More Info" next to any camp to find out more. We've got three different types of camps! We break down our camps into three categories...

A very Merry Christmas to all of our Evergreeners this year! Christmas is special for a number of reasons. One of which is that is marks 6 months until our Summer Staff arrive to start training for Summer Camp. Wowzers. The most important thing is that it is the time that we celebrate the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Christmas is often a time for families to be gathering together to celebrate the holidays and the special season. It is also a tough time for some. Our prayers are with all of our Evergreen community. No matter where you are - we want to wish you a Merry Christmas and remind you of the hope and love that we celebrate this time of year. John 3:16 says that, "For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.". In a few days we celebrate the night that Jesus came into the world. We celebrate how hope and love and peace came in the form of a tiny baby laid in a manger. Take...

I can barely believe that 2017 is less than three weeks away. Can you? December and Christmas always seem like busy times and then to lump 2017 into that...Wowzers. I always get so excited about what is coming at this time of year - so much so that I forget to be thankful for today. So don't forget to slow down a bit today and take a moment to be thankful for what's around you. There is 19 days ( January 3rd at 9am !!) until we kick off Registration for Children and Youth Camps for Summer 2017. There's also our Family Camps which filled up in only three days last year - Registration opens for Family Camps on February 2nd!  Our Theme for 2017 is SHINE based out of Matthew 5:14: "You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden."   We're so pumped about all of the good things coming at us in 2017. It's not even just Summer Camp! We've got our Pond Hockey Tournament Fundraiser coming up, our Rise 'n' Shine (Jr. H...

Can you even believe that tomorrow is December 1st? That means we're only about one month until Summer Camp Registration starts. One month until registrations start pouring in. While most folks this time of year are dreaming and of sugar-plums from the Night Before Christmas, here at camp we start dreaming of something else. Summer themes, camp brochures, camper Christmas letters, and Registration are what is on our minds. Last year - our camps were completely full. It was so exciting to see camps fill in only three days. As a result, we've added camps to give more kids an unforgettable summer at Camp Evergreen. Our newest addition - Jr. Explorers is a camp for kids going into grades 2-4 and must like Sparks, is a three night, four day camp. It's a great way for kids who are not quite ready for a full week to explore and experience all the activities at camp. We've also added another Pit Crew and Charge camp to the schedule to help keep up with the demand. ...

It has been a very dry (but lovely) start to our normal winter month of November. With temperatures in the twenties some days - it's hard to believe, especially after last winter, that Canada really is the "Winter Wonderland". As you can see - the ground is a little more brown than we are accustomed to on November 23rd. I can barely remember a time before Pond Hockey when I was waiting with baited breath for the temperatures to fall below freezing consistently. Now I can't wait for it. Oh - and it's coming...next week we have minus DOUBLE digits at night. Enough with the weather - Let's get pumped for Pond Hockey! This is our eighth annual tournament and we're expecting great things. Team slots are starting to fill up - we've got a few left so if you're sitting on the fence - time to make that decision and then start fundraising! The day is not just for the hockey players. Spectators and kids are welcome and guess what...

Would you believe that ALL of these jerseys belong to only two of our staff members? This weekend marks the end of our Fall Season and really, the end of what we consider our "high season" here at camp. On Monday, our staff team shrinks to about twelve seasonal staff. Some of these staff have been with us since the beginning of May and as you can see from some of the pictures - we become quite the family. Whether it's playing Spikeball, late night campfires at the creek, Survivor Parties, or board games nearly every night of the week - there really isn't anything like Fall Staff. These young people are up by 8am getting the Dining Hall ready to serve guests, do dishes, and ready our activity areas for the next eight hours. There are more dishes to do, custodial work, and maintenance to take care of. Once supper is done, often it's leading campfire songs and Jug 'n' Jog and going above and beyond for our groups. One of the biggest reasons why our Gu...

This week is a little bit different of a blog post than our regular-scheduled ones. Today we want to take some time to say thanks to one of our Permanent Staff members who has moved on from camp this fall. Taylor Jenkins came to Evergreen five and a half years ago from Qualicum Beach, Vancouver Island. I picked her up at the end of April 2011. I don't think either of us really thought that season would turn into five and a half years. It was pitch black and even when it's light out - driving to camp can seem like you're driving into the middle of no where. It took some time to get Taylor settled at camp. The Foothills of Alberta is a very different landscape than the Georgia Strait and large ocean of BC. Probably the hardest thing for Taylor to get used to was our freezing temperatures...which weren't necessarily freezing all the time but I don't think her winter jackets ever got packed away. It was only recently when she saw me pull two rubbermaids out of my sh...

Can you even believe it's October 15th?!? Can you even believe that we're only two and a half months away from opening Summer Camp Registration?!? That's nuts! But we know you've been just WAITING to start planning your summer. So here it is... Your 2017 Summer Camp Dates: Registration on all Children and Youth Camps opens on January 3rd, 2017. Registration for our two Family Camps opens on February 2nd, 2017. Information on each camp, the rates, and dates will all be available on our Website. www.camp-evergreen.com. .: Jogee :.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our Evergreeners out there! We had a quiet weekend here on site - the first weekend since mid-January where we had no guest groups or camp events running on the weekend. It was a little eerie to step out of my home on Saturday and Sunday morning and hear no meal bells, no Willsonball, no activity on site. There are a lot things that we're very, very thankful for as we look into the coming months. As winter begins, we officially close out our very busy 2016 season and start preparing to launch dates, registration, and our 2017 season. We saw some pretty amazing things happen this summer. Here are some pretty cool numbers from this last summer: We charged into summer with 45 staff. 33 additional volunteers joined us for at least one week of the summer, helping in the kitchen, on maintenance, or on Program. We can't do what we do without all of these staff and volunteers. 1,055 campers came through our summer camp programs in July and August. 20...

Now...who does this remind you of? Usain Bolt's grin perhaps? It was another great weekend at camp for our annual Sr. High retreat. The small but mighty retreat saw youth from Linden and Calgary get challenged from the Word by Brennen Dyck (Dalhousie Church, Calgary). The weather behaved...mostly. It rained while we were inside and the sun actually came out while we were outside. Basically - if it doesn't snow on Rise Up weekend we're pretty happy. As always, Jug 'n' Jog seemed to be the highlight of the weekend as students battled for the Kings of the Field. I still don't know how people can play barefooted in single digit weather. :S We did our best to incorporate Puzzles (our new donkey) into the game by calling a prison break when he would make his donkey sounds. We're not sure if this will continue to be the case but it certainly worked on Saturday. Chapels were challenging and busy with conversation. Brennen spoke to us...

With snow in the forecast - I thought it would be fitting to start talking about Pond Hockey! It's only a mere three and a half months away! And though it might be something to get excited about the hockey magic that happens on that day - are we ready for winter to begin...probably not but that's not going to stop me from getting us ready for POND HOCKEY!! Pond Hockey is our biggest fundraiser and we're excited to tell you that we want to hit $45,000 in January 2017. That means we need 10 teams who are willing to raise, play, and score big for Camp! Our Pond Hockey Tournament is set for January 13-14, 2017! Pond Hockey isn't just a day for players. It's fun for the whole family. Spectators are Free ! How can you say no to that?! We've got wagon rides, a kids' skate, and games ready for everyone who comes out for the day. There will be a Silent Auction table and prizes for the winners of the tournament and the most coveted prize - Top Fundraisin...

Hi folks! Thanks for checking in! Camp has just been hopping for the last couple of weeks. September is our busiest rental month of the year seeing nearly 1100 people through our site. Isn't that crazy? We'll get back to blogging pretty regularily now but it almost always seems like we need to take a step back from the GreenSpot in September to take a deep breath. The beginning of September also means that we see our new generation of Germans through and this year we've expanded to see a staff member from Ireland and one from New Zealand. It's been so much fun to hear all of the fun accents amongst our staff. We wanted to introduce you to all of them in a fun way so here's a bit of an introduction to our six internationals: German Generation #5 - Left to right: Julian, Jonas, Sophie, Franca, Marina Left to right: Emily (New Zealand) and Shauna (Ireland) I (Jogee) asked each of the staff questions about their impressions of Canada, what they ...

There are very few better ways to finish off a summer camp season than Family Camp. We love Family Camp here at Evergreen. The schedule is relaxed and it's super fun to engage with kids and parents in our activities and games. The weather held - it was cold(er) than we would have liked but hey - it didn't snow like it did in 2015 - right? So things were looking up right from the beginning. Ruth Peters joined us as the speaker this last weekend and engaged our community by doing a fort building exercise. It was hilarious to watch the different families run to their cabins to pull their mattresses out to make their fort bigger and better. We want to thank all of our volunteers and families that joined us on the Labour Day weekend. It was a fantastic mix of new families and returning families and our staff and volunteers, as usual, pulled out all of the stops. Family Photos was a really fun addition to the schedule this year. And seriously - if you thought Jug 'n...

Summer camp is over (not that any of us needed THAT reminder as our kidlets are all back in school and the camp has started filling up with Guest Groups) and that means we shift into a totally different gear. How fitting is it that the leaves seemed to have changed with the summer coming to a close. It's getting a little too yellow out there (and a little too early for this bear). You'll see a couple things change with our seasonal shift. There are events coming up. These are things that we want you marking on your calendars...things that you should be aware of that are very nearly just around the corner. Because...Summer 2017 Registration opens in just under FOUR months. Crazy, isn't it! You can keep your eyes peeled for our 2017 dates to be announced mid-October. Don't get too crazy...registration will not open until the beginning of January 2017. September is filled with a bunch of Camper Connection Days. You might be wondering what these days are all about. Th...