You don’t need to travel the globe to find a place to serve. That’s what the young adults at Douglas Mennonite Church in Winnipeg came to realize when they decided on a local service adventure. For many months they looked and planned for a way to combine travel with service for the brief interlude between their university classes and the start of summer jobs.
At first, the idea was to go on a big mission trip and visit some place rather exotic, said Rachel Klassen, one of the young adults who gave more than a week of her time to work at Camp Assiniboia. “We were first thinking we wanted to do some big trip and go to Costa Rica or some place like that,” she said. “Everyone was into that idea, but then . . . we began thinking maybe we should keep it in the province and see where that goes.”
As they began exploring Camps with Meaning for a service opportunity, they realized “there’s tonnes of needs” close to home.
“In the course of one week, they accomplished great things,” said an excited and grateful Kathy Hogue, guest group coordinator for Camp Assiniboia.
Twenty-two young adults and eight older adults installed 18 very large windows in the main lodge, built 15 bunk beds, painted, rebuilt the bridge to Riverside Chapel, and did a variety of other jobs, reported Don Rempel Boschman, pastor of Douglas Mennonite.
His hope, “that during this week they will have time to reflect, time to be outdoors, time to sing, listen, think and draw closer to Jesus Christ,” was met.
“You get to know God, and you get to know each other, and you get to see the fruits of your labour, knowing it will benefit hundreds of campers,” said volunteer Katrina Sklepowich.
Some of the work required a skill level that went beyond members of the group, so they enlisted the help of older adults in their church who willingly lent their expertise in electrical, plumbing and window installation work.
“Some brought their uncles or their grandfathers,” said Hogue. “Their enthusiasm for this project spread in their church. They discovered they can serve right in their own back yard. There are many opportunities and you don’t have to go very far to make a big difference.”
“This is what keeps us going as staff people here,” said Hogue. “To see the incredible energy and enthusiasm of this group of people helps give us energy and enthusiasm for our work.”
The excitement and energy instilled in the young adults has rubbed off on some of the older members. David Hogue, camp manager, had included in his list of needs a new cabin, but this was beyond the skills of most of the young adults. But it was not beyond the realm of possibility for an older member, Henry Neustaedter. He summoned together a group of about 20 men with a variety of skills, some willing to donate their time and some able to commit both time and supplies. This month, they will converge on Camp Assiniboia to build the new cabin that will be named Douglas Fir.
Visit the Mennonite Church Manitoba website at http://mennochurch.mb.ca/category/media/video to view the “Douglas Mennonite Church serves at Camp Assiniboia” video.
Douglas Mennonite young adults Emily Penner, foreground, and Kristi DeFehr help prepare a bed frame for assembly.
Megan Smith of Winnipeg applies glue to a piece of a bed frame held by David Hogue, manager of Camp Assiniboia.
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