the green spot blog

Sometimes when people ask me if things have settled down at camp I want to chuckle. Not because it's a silly question - more because it can feel crazy how far in advance we are planning. Not only that, but a few short days after Impact ended we were training our Fall staff, jumped right into Summer's End Family Camp, and then started receiving Guest Groups on site. There really isn't a "settling" that happens here. Just transitions into the next season. Summer has been packed up in my office, it's true. I've rolled up the signs that read Lost and Found, Registration A-K, The Nurse and stored them for the winter. Summer planning takes a cat nap in September. By October, registration forms for 2018, speakers, and volunteers all start getting worked on. It's exciting to watch plans build and develop. Summer camp isn't the only thing we plan for right now. In fact, it's only one piece of what we do. Retreats and Fundraisers are being planned...

Happy Easter Week Friends! It's hard to believe that as I type this April is already a third gone and our Spring Staff arrive in less than three weeks. Wowzers! I can barely believe that. We've got a lot of events coming up in the next two and a half months. We just wanted to alert you to them so that you can mark your calendar and get registered for the events. Spring Fundraiser The first event that is coming is our Spring Fundraiser. This annual event is not one to miss. It's out of this world (this year especially because it's a Star Wars theme!). We really like to have fun with our fundraisers - I mean, we're camp people, right? And what would camp be without a little dressing up and laughing over an amazing meal cooked by Ken? One of the questions that I have been getting is whether or not you HAVE to dress up...Dressing up is not required! But we will certainly welcome any Jedis, Padawans, and Vaders that might saunter through the doors that night. Ti...

We were serving Cotton Candy at our Open House! June 25th was such an amazing day. Seriously one of the most fun meetings around. As a society - our AGM is not only a time to bring our membership together, it's also a time to share ideas, pray for our board, and get excited about the future. I mean - how often do you hear people getting excited over financial reports?!? They did at our meeting! Ice Cream, voting board members in, and exciting news updates filled the first half of the meeting while Gerrit and John had us laughing and smiling with their testimonies. We also had focus groups to get input from our members about how we become Ambassadors for Camp Evergreen, how to increase our Volunteers and do a better job of caring for them, our Spring Fundraiser, and our Pond Hockey fundraiser. Each Focus Group spent time talking about each topic - which we will report back on very soon. The most exciting part? We nearly doubled our membership from last year which is ye...

June. It's June 9th. We're less than 30 days until the first day of Summer Camp. Whoa. We're 15 days until our Summer Staff arrive. Which means one more thing... We're 16 days until our AGM and Open House. Let's talk about our AGM for a moment. Annual General Meeting. Doesn't sound like fun, right? Who wants to come to camp for a meeting. But that's where you would be wrong. We do skits, have ice cream, laugh (a lot), explore camp, and take an active role in where Evergreen is going. It's a gathering of people who are "sold out" for camp. You're in a room full of folks who have a deep love of Camp Evergreen, who believe in the importance of camp, and who want to be part of what we do here. Sounds a bit more interesting, right? Do you love camp? Do you believe in what we do here? Did you have a life impacting, life changing, life transforming week at camp? Maybe YOU haven't personally experienced camp but you've seen th...

Most people don't get excited about Annual General Meetings, but here at Camp Evergreen we like to think of them as our Awesome General Meeting and combined with our Open House in the afternoon is one of our favourite days of the year! Highlights of this years AGM include:  - a great skit led by our German volunteers.  Watch out for that squirrel!    - three board members sharing a short testimony and being re-elected for a three year term.  - a great (and entertaining) financial report - thanks Kevin!  (who knew financial reports could be entertaining?)  - the launch of our Reaching Higher campaign.  - free 2016 camps given away.  - record number of 54 members present!   Each member present received a backpack with a special members pen and pin.  Courtney was also handing out an alumni pin that we were encouraged to proudly wear throughout the day.  Its never too early to start thinking about becoming a ...

This weekend marks one of our most important weekends as an organization; Our AGM and Open House. The AGM is important because it's where our members (nearly anyone can be a member at camp!) get to be actively involved in the decisions for camp, we vote people in and we give lots of free stuff away...and then we have fun - lots of fun playing on the activities and eating together. I know what you're thinking...this is probably the 9th AGM you've been to this year already. I can count about 4 that I've been to and I don't even have kids! Regardless of how many you've been to - I can guarantee that our AGM is unlike any other. Here's Andrew, our Board Chair inviting you to our AGM: Let's just say that you're on the fence about whether you should come or not...let's list the reasons why you SHOULD come! 1. Food! Ken is cooking...there's going to be lunch for the AGMers and a free BBQ for anyone that is coming for the Open House. So h...

As of yesterday we were 100 campers ahead of last years numbers at this time.  100 campers!  That's a lot of campers.  Last year we had nearly 800 campers join us for summer and we're on track to pass that number this summer. Let's think about our campers for a minute.  Most campers are pretty excited to come to camp.  They start packing a week or two before camp starts.  They make sure their flashlight has new batteries.  Mom makes sure they have sunscreen.  Sunday morning of registration they are most likely the first ones up and the first ones in the car ready to go.  They are excited to come to camp! I can remember being a camper many, many years ago.  In fact if you scroll down our blog posts you can read about it a few blogs ago.  The one thing that stands out in my mind to this day is my counselor Phil.  We have a bit of a problem here at Camp Evergreen.  It's a good problem to have because it encourage...

It seems like just yesterday summer started with our Annual General Meeting at the end of June. At the end of the meeting we gathered the staff together to pray for them and the upcoming summer. (Prayer is a good thing). I've been asked, how did it go? Great, awesome, stretching, new, interesting, uplifting, challenging are words that come to mind. From a strictly numbers perspective we had a good summer. Summer camper numbers were up (779 total compared to 718 last summer) and God provided all the staff that we needed. That makes for a good start. 135 campers made a first time commitment to follow Jesus and 179 made a re-commitment in their walk with Jesus. Our staff and speakers this summer were phenomenal as they really connected with our campers. How exciting is it that 314 campers made a life changing decision this summer? That's why we're here. We want to be used by God to bring campers into a personal relationship with Jesus. It was als...

Saturday, June 28 was a great day for an AGM. If we could emphasize one thing, it would be the need for our society members. We can not, nor do we want to minister on our own. Our members are an integral part of the ministry here at Evergreen. We value your input, we covet your prayers and we need your support. We would encourage you already to put June 27, 2015 aside and join us. Highlights of this years AGM were two of our staff members sharing. Felix from Germany was quite animated as he shared about his experience this past year. Sarah shared about how Evergreen has been part of her faith walk over the last 14 years. Eight as a camper and six as a staff member. After a financial update our board was affirmed and several members were elected. Your 2014/15 board is made up of, Andrew Baerg, Alex Fay, Marni Hatch, Cody Hoffman, Barry Langendoen, Bob Thiessen, Keith Thiessen and Kevin Thiessen. We appreciate their commitment to Evergreen and desire to...