the green spot blog

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...

Our first annual general meeting was a success! Here's a post from me, spring staffer Sarah, about how things went down: It’s a warm, sunny morning in May at Camp Evergreen in Bergen, Alberta; one of the first beautiful days we’ve had this year. Leaves are silently unfurling, horses munch new grass, and the waters of Fallen Timber Creek bubble gaily between its banks. Suddenly the peace is broken by a child’s terrified-but-excited shriek and the whirring of trolley wheels against a steel cable. With this, the morning’s first zipline ride, Camp Evergreen Mennonite Brethren Ministries’ first annual general meeting has begun! Like us, you’ve probably been to other annual general meetings (known affectionately as AGM’s by Evergreen staff, who use abbreviations constantly). Sitting uncomfortably, we try to sift through the piles of information presented to us. We drink way too much coffee, doze off once or twice, and sleepily raise our hands when it comes time to vote. Hours...

At the beginning of June, at the same time as the fantastical Fathers & Sons Retreat (I can't decide ... should it be "Father & Son Retreat"? "Fathers' & Sons' Retreat"? Fathers & Sons' Retreat"?), a couple of us (Kerry, Trenton , Jenny ) headed up to Edmonton to run a garage sale as a fundraiser for the camp. We were joined by Bethany, an Edmonton-based friend of Evergreen, and we spend two days in the hot, hot sun at River West Christian Church (who had kindly donated its parking lot to our cause). We had some great donations (an organ! a dog ramp! a dogloo! a turkey fryer! great outdoors stuff!) and we did okay. I have ideas for how to run more successful fundraising garage sales in the future. Anyway, some pictures:

We miss our campers when they aren't here! We've been talking for a while now about how we want to plan gym riot again ... once upon a time, during Garth Epp's reign as program director, camp staff would hit the road during the school year to play crazy games with campers in their hometowns. Well friends, gym riots are back! We hung out a Dalhousie Community Church , with a bunch of former and future campers, and Dalhousie and SunWest youth (including a couple guys we'll be seeing at ARISE this summer, a Trails Away lady and a few Ignite and Impact campers) and we had LOTS of fun. We're going to do this more next year ... stay tuned!

This is a very belated blog post. I'm sorry, Dalhousie! Our friends at Dalhousie Community Church , in NW Calgary, ran a super awesome Settlers of Cataan tournament recently, as a fundraiser for our Cabin Fever! project. They raised an impressive $500 and had oodles and oodles of fun! Much love and gratitude!

On Sunday, I (Kerry) spent the day in the lovely (windy) city of Lethbridge. I spent the morning at College Drive Community Church -- one of Evergreen's supporting churches. College Drive does a very neat Camp Sunday each year -- this is the second time I've had the privilege of being involved. I was joined by representatives from Southern Alberta Bible Camp and Crowsnest Lake Bible Camp, and kids from the College Drive youth group interviewed us -- about our camps and about our relationships with God. The kids also lead the worship through music, did a short drama and one of them preached! They did a really fantastic job of the whole thing, and it was lots of fun to be there. After church, I met five of our past and future staff at Moxie's. All five are both "past" and "future" staff, huzzah! I brought their hiring packages with me for hand delivery, which was a source of great excitement (see the picture below, taken on my phone -- explaining th...