Volunteer - noun - a person who freely offers to take part in an enterprise or undertake a task. verb - freely offer to do something.
 |
| Colter and Tia helping out at the barn. Nice hoodie Tia! |
I asked Bekah to give me a list of volunteers that have helped us out over our winter months. I was expecting a few names, I was not expecting a list of over 50 names! It's been a real blessing to be able to share our ministry load with our volunteers. Some of our volunteers are previous staff members. Some of our volunteers come on a regular basis - thanks Jeanette! Some of our volunteers come from Sundre, and others as far away as Edmonton or Lethbridge - just for a weekend. Some of our volunteers have only joined us once. Some volunteers drive tractor, wash dishes, teach activities, scoop horse poop (which really isn't as gross as you may think), clean wash rooms or cook meals. Some volunteers are young and some a little older. But all our volunteers are loved by our staff.
 |
| Rhys one of our regular volunteers |
What makes volunteering so important? First off we literally (and by literally I mean literally) could not minister to all our guest groups if we did not have volunteers. There are some weekends/guest groups that we can handle as a permanent and seasonal staff on our own, where volunteers are an added bonus making things a little easier. There are other weekends/guest groups where if we did not have volunteers we could not run the weekend. A recent example is that we had four guest groups on site and one of the groups requested a special breakfast time. We were able to accommodate that request because of a group of four volunteers that joined us from Sunrise in Edmonton. (Thanks Sunrise!) There are other weekends where we could not teach all our activities or lead activities safely without the help of our volunteers.
 |
| The great group from Sunrise in Edmonton |
A second reason volunteering is important is because it is very encouraging to our staff. For those of you who have worked at camp before, sometimes the winters - how do I say this politely - are long. New faces energize us, cheer us up and help us work better. We see that there is a life outside of camp! Many hands make light work - a proverb from the early 1300s - is still true today.
 |
| Katherina and Kim helping Travis train our new team |
A third reason volunteering is important is that it gives you the opportunity to be part of the ministry here at Camp Evergreen. You can experience and see first hand how we are able to portray the Good News of Jesus Christ to each one of our guest groups. You can help us encourage our guests to come back as campers where we can freely share the Good News of Jesus Christ!
 |
| Tom our play by play Pond Hockey commentator |
So a big (and by big I mean a really
BIG) thanks goes out to our volunteers. Thank you for serving and encouraging us! If you haven’t volunteered at camp I would encourage you to consider giving it a try. We still have a lot of weekends between now and the end of October where we need help. We still have a whole summer camp where we can use your help! So grab a few friends from church or your neighbourhood and join us for a week or a weekend. I'm looking forward to serving with you at Camp Evergreen!
Bob "Ranger" Kroeker
Executive Director
Comments