the green spot blog

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...

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...

Here we are. Summer 2016 has sung its last tune. For us at Camp Evergreen - this summer has been full of some amazing memories, growing points, challenges, and so many victories. This past Friday marked the last day of Base Camps, which are any camps that happen up in our cabin area, lodge, etc... After we say goodbye to our campers we set to a GIANT clean of the site. The evening concludes with our staff doing their own Testimony Sticks at the creek. Our campers aren't the only ones experiencing life change here at camp. Many of our staff experience it too but one thing is often talked about during the last campfire...how do we go on from here? Camp is this crazy place where the world seems to fade away for the week (or sometimes multiple weeks) - all there is in front of you is camp. Games, challenging speakers, lasting friendships that form overnight, and "ah-ha" moments where God takes something as simple as the Leap of Faith and uses it to speak to you about ...

That's it folks. Base Camps for Summer 2016 are finished. Today, Impact 2016, our Sr. High camp, wrapped up our summer save for one more out-trip (Charge 3 next week) and our Labour Day Family Camp. As I type this, every staff member is cleaning up summer - pick up the thousands of pieces of individual Starburst wrappers crammed into the dirt around the Willson Pit, hand mopping underneath bunks, and organizing the Program Sheds for winter storage. I could go on and on about all the things that we end up finding after 8 weeks of summer fun but you may just think I'm making it up (like a full "man" stuffed with sleeping bags up in the linen closet). You will just have to trust me that the Big Clean that happens on the last Friday after the last camp is an epic one. Impact is our fullest week for programming and we really don't hold anything back. From midnight socials at the Archery Range (wings, ice cream floats, and more) to our famous Homemade Jam on Frida...

There you have it. We've closed out our sixth week at Evergreen and it was awesome. The weather was (mostly) cooperative and no matter what the sky handed us - we had a heap of fun. Before I get into Ignite 2 - I wanted to take a moment to talk about our Interns. We have two different "phases" to training up young leaders before they start working as staff. The first phase is Pit Crew. A two week, fully immersive program for kids in Grade 9-10. They learn the "behind-the-scenes" and what it means to have a Servant Heart for God. The second phase is a 6 week Internship. Thirteen young leaders joined us from our first week until the end of last week - each choosing an area of focus (cabin leading, barn, kitchen, A-Team, or A/V) to practice living out their passions and love for camp. It was amazing watching these young leaders grow in confidence and courage through the six weeks and we're very excited to see them back here next summer as full time staff...

Heellllloooo! Sorry about this blog being a smidge tardy. It's been a busy couple of weeks for us and so a small breather was in order. We went from Explorers right into Family Camp with a day off, into Sparks and then right into Ignite 2. Wowzers - everybody take a breath with me. - Still breathing - Are we good? All right! Let's get into it. SPARKS! These are our youngest campers aging from going to grade 1 to 4. They have a TONNE of energy and our staff love chasing them around to all of the activities. Pony Rides, Climbing Walls, Archery, Canoeing, Crafts...you name it - these Sparkies conquered it. Our speaker, Catherine, from Chestermere told the Big God Story on Sunday night and then on another night - talked about how we can be PART OF THE BIG GOD STORY. What an amazing truth. On the last evening - she brought one of our favourite puppets, Rocky the Raccoon. Rocky taught us that God does not make junk. Catherine has used Rocky in previous years here an...

This week marked a few things for us here at Camp Evergreen. First of all - it was a new age for us. EXPLORERS! These are our Grades 3-5 kids. They're so much fun and full of energy. Everything is an adventure! Not only that...but Tuesday also marked our halfway point. Can you believe it? We're halfway through summer! Which is really only something we make a note off because at the beginning of each week - our staff acknowledge that it's the first week of camp for each one of the campers arriving and that they deserve our best. So tonight (yes, two hours after our Explorers depart), when our Family Campers arrive, it will be the first camp experience for our Family Campers. The weather was fantastic again this week week. Nearly all sun - only storms after we were all done playing.  The kids were amazing as we moved through the Evergreen Olympic Events and Chapel was as special as ever with Staff Alumni and speaker extrordinaire, Becca Mabbett, sharing the word with us...

Wow! The weather was nearly the exact opposite from last week. We had amazing weather all week long and boy oh boy was it nice. The weather meant our outdoor BBQ was rocking on Wednesday evening with water games and Jug 'n' Jog to boot. All sunshine and no rain meant that Semi-Pro skills were all running full tilt and we indulged in extra water games to keep kids cool and happy. The speaker this week was J Janzen from Abbotsford, BC. J is an expert storyteller and artist and it's always amazing to watch the kids as J is illustrating a story while also telling it. Mix that with his Vintage Film Features from the 1970s and you have some pretty captivated kids (and not just kids...all of us adult kids too). As the week wound down - we got to my favourite part...Testimony Sticks. And there was some good stuff that kids were sharing. Here are just a few of them: God is with you no matter where you go so if you're in troubled times, He will comfort you. You can mee...

  This really was the commitment this week by all staff and campers as we did not have much respite from the rain this week. If you looked at the smiles on the campers' faces and how crazy loud it got in the Dining Hall as the week went on - you would never know just how much rain actually fell at camp this week. We had some sun - and in the end only one or two activities got pushed. I'll give you something though - our Ignite 1 and Roughin' It Boys 1 kids are troopers. Rain or Shine - these kids were out to have fun this week. This week on Base Camp (Ignite 1), Tom Mulhern from Dalhousie Church in NW Calgary spoke to us about identity . He started the week off by showing us some pretty funny pictures of himself in Junior High and stories of where he grew up. He challenged each of us to start to answer the question of "Who am I?". The next night Tom posed the question... Who are you? What does the world say about you - how does the world define you? He had...