Wakon' Da-Ho!
My family and I spent Memorial Weekend at Camp Wakon’ Da-Ho doing some much needed work to prepare for the upcoming camping season. You may recall a few months back when the youth and I went to camp to do the same thing. Why, you may be asking yourselves, would she need to spend 2 weekends at Wakon’ Da-Ho?
The overall financial picture for camps in Kentucky reads much like the budget for our church and the Kentucky region. The economy is seriously affecting the flow of income into all areas of ministry. People work longer hours and harder for less money. Prices for gasoline and products are on the rise, so families are faced with difficult decisions of where to put their finances. Many decisions are made out of necessity, not by choice. Our church has had to make a few of these difficult decisions as well. As a response to the financial situation of Outdoor Ministries a few concerned members of Disciples churches in our region made the trek to Wakon’ Da-Ho to put their time and efforts into a project for the region as a means to saving funds. The plumbing in the girls’ bathhouse froze over the winter months. Rather than pay someone to make the necessary repairs, we used our skills and enthusiasm to do the work ourselves. We spent the weekend at camp volunteering our time and energies into ripping out walls and old, damaged plumbing and replacing them with new, state-of-the-art materials that will better withstand harsh winters in order to save funds for Outdoor Ministries.
The combined efforts of several people this past weekend are one of several areas of outreach our church participates in, which does not always translate into the yearly budget. The work done could easily equate to thousands of dollars in donations had we simply given money to the cause and stayed comfortably at home barbequing with the rest of the masses this past Memorial Weekend. Unfortunately we and many other churches did not have thousands of dollars to donate. When we are unable to give monetary donations that does not mean that we give nothing. We can always share our time and talents as a means of giving back to the world a portion of the gifts that were first given to us from God. Stewardship comes in many, many forms. The work performed at Wakon’ Da-Ho this past weekend was all hidden behind painted walls. Will the hundreds of girls who make use of these facilities over the summer ever look at these walls and wonder at efforts that made them possible? Not likely! But I know that because of these efforts, many who attend summer camp will take away with them precious memories of encounters with God and God’s people within God’s creation and that is what really matters!
I challenge each of you today to think creatively. How can you help make the world a better place by sharing of your time and energies? Donating to worthy causes is always a good and right decision, but if you are faced with limited monetary resources consider other ways to give? You could donate your time to the local animal shelter by cleaning cages, feeding and bathing animals or raising awareness to the community for the shelter’s needs. You could spend some time at the church cleaning those places we can no longer afford to pay staff to clean. Donate old books to the library, if they don’t need them, they can sell them and use the funds to purchase what they need. Clean out the closets and donate clothing to the church clothing closet so these unused articles can be given to those who have need. Go help an elderly neighbor or family member work in the yard or garden.
Or, like some of our own church members, see a need and step up to fill that need. Outdoor Ministries is facing a difficult future if funding continues to fall as it has in the past few years. Betsy Whitt and Eugene Coffman have taken on the task to organize a campaign to raise awareness among churches regarding the needs of our camps and begin fundraising to meet these needs. Perhaps you could lend your efforts to theirs and secure the future of Outdoor Ministries for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Kentucky, and as a result contribute to the faith formation of children and youth throughout the state.
Shalom,
Tracy