Over the past three months we have partnered with a local church to provide “Food Encouragement” to 412 families by providing large 35-40 pound boxes of food to people who signed up to participate in our Drive-thru Community Food Blessing events. We had people from Ohio to Pennsylvania sponsor the cost of boxes and numerous local people who picked up the boxes to deliver to families who could be encouraged by food, friendship or a meaningful connection. There were also families that signed up to receive a box and came to our Drive-thru event to pick up the box themselves. Volunteers took the time to pray with each family, putting God front and center in all of it. Please continue to pray God uses these boxes and food blessings to reach the lost and encourage families as we continue to expand and provide food encouragement in the upcoming months!
What’s Up Blog
Virtual Camp Awakens
To say that 2020 brought change is perhaps an understatement but what didn’t change was the excitement of coming together for a week of camp. For the past 4 years we have taken a team as part of the staff for Ability Camp, a physical camp for individuals with special needs, 18 years and up. This year was the first online camp, launching AT Station, an online gathering space for Ability Tree events geared for individuals with and without special needs.
Despite transitioning from a physical to virtual experience this year, campers were still able to interact with one another, take part in art classes, play bingo, exercise, participate in all camp activities and hear God’s word through dynamic speakers and it was all done online through video. Sure, it looked different but it didn’t change the fact that relationships grew between campers, chaperones and most importantly with Christ.
If I could use one word to describe the Ability tree camp experience I would say, ‘Heaven’. What a joy to be part of a camp where everyone is so encouraging, accepting, gracious, excited and full of love. I would encourage anyone to take advantage of the opportunity and serve at Ability Camp or be part of AT Station events. If you’d like to be part of the next camp experience, complete our Volunteer form and a real person will get back with you. In the meantime a picture is worth a thousand words. Take a look at just a few.
Virtual Camp Behind the Scenes
We’ve been making preparations to be part of the team conducting a virtual camp for special needs adults. This would have been our fifth year working alongside Ability Tree as we gathered in Pennsylvania at Refreshing Mountain Camp but this year is going to look a bit different. We are taking camp to the cloud and transform the experience to reach even more campers. Our team has been creating the raw video for various segments of the camp week and then sending them to Ability Tree staff to edit. We are typically responsible for building the campfire and you can’t beat this team as they get ready for S’MORE night.
We visited Inglish Homesteaders and captured some video of their farm animals for the virtual petting zoo. My favorite was the Jake Turkey strut.
Rooster Ready
Summers are typically filled with several camps spanning from Pennsylvania to Arizona but this year we are limited to the borders of Maryland. COVID19 has changed the landscape of our summer activities and we have adapted to a new and interesting way of engaging campers and giving them a quality camp experience, even in the midst of change.
We are going Virtual
As unprecedented as virtual camp sounds there are some exciting things being developed to allow campers to feel connected and loved as they have fun, build relationships and most importantly draw closer to Jesus.
Our camp team, for the fifth year will be leading organized recreation and special activities for the campers. You’re kidding, right! How can you have organized recreation and special activities virtually? That was my exact question when this opportunity was presented to me. Three weeks and three zoom conferences later, with an amazing team spanning from New York to Arkansas, I’m beginning to see how this is going to work and we are only limited by the creativity that God has given to us as a team. I’m not a fan of videotaping so this has stretched my ability to communicate beyond face to face interaction but thankfully God brought along Jake and EmmaLeigh to lead the charge and come up with our team’s introduction video to the campers. Here is the raw clip before any editing. We will keep you posted as things develop.
Best Summer
This past summer, I had the privilege of working with Lantern and Compass Project. Although only getting the opportunity to do 2 camps, my life was definitely changed for the better. The first, Camp Wannahockalugie, was an absolutely awesome experience. Working with Terry and our team to help teach the kids about Christ while having fun doing it was so cool to be a part of. Getting to do skits and lead lesson-themed recreation activities amounted in so much laughter and excitement the campers were thrilled, as anyone with ears could tell.
And as much fun and impacting as this camp was, the second camp I helped with, the ability tree camp, was life changing. Going into this one, I really had no experience with people with special needs. I would loosely throw around the r-word as if it wasn’t a big deal, and truly didn’t understand what interacting with these people was like. I was timid at first among the campers, sort of treating them as one would treat a kid, oversimplifying everything and talking to them differently. However, as the week went on, I started to personally connect with some of the campers, through music, sports, and Christ especially. As I was building new relationships, I was beginning to realize that there is no us and there is no them. We are all human regardless of our differences. This epiphany changed my life for good. I haven’t said the r-word since and now have a newfound desire to hang out with people with special needs, especially because of them being so commonly made fun of and left out. A camp like that is one I will never forget, and was definitely God’s purpose for me this summer. Working with Lantern and Compass was one of the best parts of my summer, and I’m looking forward to doing so next year!
By Keller Knode – Summer Student Team Member