As I write this post we are nearing the finish line for Day Camps 2017. Three of our seven Teams will be arriving back in Montreal today. The first one, coming from CFB Bagotville will arrive by bus at 345pm and two other Teams are returning by plane, touching down around 6:15pm.After that Team 3 is coming in on a red-eye flight, tomorrow morning at 705am, then two Teams from the Toronto area will return by bus at 945pm. Finally the last Team, from Calgary, arrives Monday evening at 640pm!!! And so, for the last time this summer I give you…
Postcards from Week 4
Team 1-
Mae Anne, Aaron and Bryce have spent this week far to the northeast of Montreal at CFB Bagotville. It has been a small Day Camp with, I believe, no more than a maximum of 11 Campers. This is just as well, since they only had a couple of helpers. Also, one of the children only spoke French or Spanish, which was a bit of a challenge! They held a Friday Closing and are now on the long bus ride home.
Team 2-
Chelsea and Kelvin’s last Camp was at Wasaga Beach, outside Toronto, they had over 20 campers, with quite a big group of Scramblers, ably handled by Chelsea who “loves Scramblers” YAY!! One of our crafts this summer is sand candles and Chelsea really wished they could make them on the beach, but sadly they take a while to “set” and there was no way to protect them from high tide or predators so candles on the beach will need to wait for another year!
Team 3-
Christopher, Miriam and Mercy Jade completed their mission in the city of Prince Albert, this time at St. George’s Church. Ten years ago, one of our first Teams to serve in the Diocese of Saskatchewan held a Day Camp at this church, albeit under a different Priest. I’m not sure of their final head count but when Christopher and I spoke early in the week I think they had about 16 Campers. They were all happily billeted with a retired couple from the UK who reminded Christopher of Mrs Philmore 😊.
“We arrived safely in Prince Albert and attended church at St. George’s. We are all billetted with the same older couple, the first this summer to resemble Mrs. Philmore’s family much (they’re British). Everything is very suitable. The church is very excited to have us; we’ve set up and things seem quite organised. We expect maybe 15 children tomorrow, possibly more.”
Team 4-
Joshua and Lauren have completed their journey in the town of Dysart, Sask. St. Cuthbert’s Church has hosted Day Camps for the past 4 or 5 years and Rev. Warren is very keen and actively involved. They had a big group of close to 40 children and Joshua was pretty tired the last time we spoke. I told him it was okay to tell me he was tired but that I knew he would still appear enthusiastic with the Campers! He is a seasoned “trooper” and I know he will give his all right to the end.
Team 5-
Emmanuel, Elysha and Miguel have completed their mission in the (new to us) community of Kenaston. They held a Closing Gathering Thursday evening, followed by a wiener roast. Emmanuel called me quite late to report that it had gone super well and that lots of people had shouted“AMEN!” after the liturgical dance, drowning out the few who clapped. YAY! A victory for “worship through dance” over “performance art” Ha! They arrive home this evening, on the same flight as Team 4 😊
Team 6-
Annie and Donna will be the last Team to return although they also held a Friday Closing. This decision was due to the Holiday Weekend, which confusingly occurs on the first weekend in August in every other province EXCEPT Quebec! The Rector at Grace Anglican polled the Campers’ parents and decided that they could get the best turnout by holding a Closing Gathering yesterday. Annie reports that it went “really well” with a reasonable number of families in attendance. This was a small Camp as it was a late addition to our schedule but we were SO grateful that the Parish opened its doors to the Team, as they would have otherwise had to be disbanded a week early.
Team 7-
Brian, Maynard and KC will be travelling back with on a MegaBus, along with Team 2, arriving tomorrow evening. They seem to have had a good week in Barrie with over 25 Campers. The Parish Priest lives on a sheep farm. We are all hoping the Lamb gets to meet a real life flock!!
And so ends Day Camps 2017. This coming Tuesday all the Team Leaders will gather for the annual Team Leaders Evaluation Meeting. This is a very important opportunity for the sharing of many stories that seldom make their way into the pages of the written evaluation forms. After closing with a time of prayer, I will distribute the “Golden Chicken” Awards and then everyone stays for supper, after which the Day Camp committee holds a brief wrap-up meeting. Although this event is quite a marathon, it is also a precious time, as this group of leaders meets together for the last time. So much amazing ministry has taken place over the past six weeks, so much for which to give Thanks, so many adventures and challenges! Sitting there in the circle we surely can see that together, by God’s Grace, we have managed to achieve something beautiful and something far greater than the sum of our individual parts.
Back here at home base, I am gearing up for tomorrow’s SYC Staff Training Meeting. 22 Staff will be arriving around 9 am for a daylong event during which I will be serving breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack 😊. Most of this past week has been occupied with a ton of cooking and baking, interspersed, of course, with gazillions of texts, calls and emails!! The Golden Chickens were completed and wrapped and I even managed to get the samples made for my SYC workshop, happening about 10 days from now.
Well before I head off to split 3 dozen Bagels for tomorrow’s breakfast, we still need to end with a recipe. There have been some simple dinners this week after long days of cooking for others.
One night I enjoyed some smorgasbord sandwiches they make great deck or picnic fare 😊.
Salmon Dill Sandwiches
- 1 tin wild organic salmon
- ½ a round loaf of Swedish rye bread, thinly sliced
- 1 Boston lettuce
- ¼ cup butter
- 2 Tbsps. finely chopped fresh dill
- 2 Tbsps. cider vinegar
- 2 tsps. Capers, well drained
- ½ tsp. black pepper
Mash the salmon, discarding any skin and bones. Add the butter, dill, vinegar and pepper and work together with a fork, to form a rough pâté texture.Lightly butter the slices of rye bread and top each slice with a whole lettuce leaf. Mound a portion of the salmon mixture in the lettuce cups. Garnish each sandwich with a few capers.Serves 2.