Week 1 is drawing to a close. It is Friday morning here at “Day Camps Central” and I’m making a head start on this post in the hopes that the Teams will send in more photos before I publish it sometime tomorrow.
Before I share news from the six Teams I’d just like to reflect for a moment on what I am doing this morning.
38 years ago St. Matthew’s Church held it’s first Day Camp and I was a young and inexperienced coordinator. It was the second year of my family’s involvement with the ministry and we had welcomed our very first CTM billet the summer before.
For our first Day Camp my parents hosted 2 Team Members from the Team, led by Grant LeMarquand (now a bishop in the Episcopal Church, then a theological student). Georgina Morley was a student at St. Paul’s and St. Mary’s College in Cheltenham UK and Sarah Morris was a Montrealer, fresh out of high school. The program they were presenting that summer was Luke Street, the same stories our Teams are sharing this year!
Over the past 38 years Georgina and I have continued to correspond and three years ago she and her husband, Mike, came and shared dinner with me during their vacation in Canada. Two weeks ago Georgina succumbed to the cancer she had been battling for over two years and this morning I am watching a live stream of her funeral coming from Witney, Oxfordshire UK.
This deep and long lasting friendship is only one of hundreds of connections that have enriched my life as a result of Day Camps. So I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the life of my dear friend. Without question Day Camps has made me the person I am today and I feel so privileged to be a part of this worldwide “family” of whom Georgina was a valued member.
May she rest in peace and rise in glory.
It’s now Saturday morning so let’s skip forward 38 years to summer 2019 and launch into the “postcards” from Day Camps- Week 1 😊
Team 1 has spent the this past week right here in Montreal, leading a Camp at JOY international Centre, a Filipino congregation in the Côte des Neiges area of the city. Franc and Rachelle have had a good week with approximately 26 Campers and a local team of great helpers. Pastor Imelda is a strong supporter of Day Camps and took an active role at this week’s Camp, as she always does. Sunday Team 1 will be moving on to St. Joseph’s, Brossard, a suburb south of the city.
Team 2
Team 2 spent the first week in North Bay Ontario. This is the second year we have been invited there and the Day Camp is a Deanery project, involving campers from several churches. Donna, Angelica and Geneviève have really enjoyed the beautiful natural surroundings of this scenic area and Geneviève has taken some lovely photos! Team 2 is travelling today to Caledon East, near Toronto.
Team 3
Team3 (Miriam and KC) have had their hands full this week with a Day Camp in Toronto that was largely composed of very young campers. They have done a fine job adapting the Program to suit the needs and attention spans of these small children. The Coordinator, Rev. Karen says, “KC and Miriam were fabulous and we had a great week!”
Team 4&5
Teams 4&5 (Mikaela, Kelvin, Mariejoy & Charisse) doubled up this week at St. Luke’s Regina, for a big Camp with about 50 Campers!! St. Luke’s has been hosting our Program for a number of years and their local team has a training session ahead of the Camp when they learn all the songs and even the Liturgical Dance! Father Michael the Parish Priest, and Laura, the Coordinator were both actively involved, which, along with a 4 person Team, helped this big Day Camp to run smoothly. Today the Teams are splitting up with Team 4 leading a second Camp at St. Luke’s (they have ANOTHER 50 Campers registered for that!!) while Team 5 travels to Gordon’s First Nation. We have had the opportunity to lead Dap Camps on Reserve for 12 years and Gordon’s always tops out with over 100 Campers attending!!!! (no, they don’t always turn up at the same time 😊)
Team 6
Team 6 has had a very happy week at Christ the King Edmonton. This community has hosted Teams for many years and Nancy is an expert coordinator. Annie, the Team Leader, had been at CtheK two years ago and was excited to stay again with her previous billets. Miguel and Melina were also warmly welcomed so everyone had a super experience. Today, Team 6 is flying on to Vancouver for their second week
And that’s all the Teams!!
I really need to close off now and makes some lunch but it won’t be possible to hit the “publish” button until I’ve received photos from all the Teams. I also did want to quickly add that we had our Retreat staff evaluation meeting this week and all in all felt that the new way of “doing” the Retreat had been successful. Of course there are things we would tweak for another year but it was helpful to feel we are on the right path.
Now let’s have a recipe.
For the Evaluation meeting lunch we had
Summer Panzanella followed by Cantaloupe Soup. The soup is very refreshing and quick to pull together.
Cantaloupe Soup
- 6 cups chopped cantaloupe
- 1 ½ cups orange juice
- ¼ cup each lemon juice & lime juice
- ¼ tsp. each cinnamon & sea salt
- ½ cup plain whole milk yoghurt
- fresh mint sprigs
Combine the melon, juices, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Blend or process in batches and transfer to a large jug. When ready to serve pour soup into individual bowls and garnish each serving with a blob of yoghurt and a sprig of mint. Serves 6.
