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Join or Hold a K5 Event in Your Area!
August 13, 2010—
August 29th, 2010 will mark the Five Year Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. This year, we invite you to hold a K5 event at your church, school or hometown, participate on Facebook by changing your status to a message of support for the continuing recovery, and/or become a part of Camp Restore’s “K5” Events being held in different parts of the country.
If you’re nearby along the Gulf Coast, consider joining us in Biloxi, MS at a decommissioning service for Camp Biloxi led by LCMS President Gerald Kieschnick at 10:30 a.m. at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. The Gulf Coast events will continue in New Orleans with an evening worship service at 5:00 p.m. at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church and Camp Restore in New Orleans, once again including President Kieschnick. We would love for you to join us! To learn more, please call us at 888-248-2636, watch our Facebook Fan Page and keep in watching our website.
The Chicago Area Mission Partnership will be commemorating the anniversary by hosting a K5 Fundraiser to spread awareness of the Campaign to Restore Trinity Claiborne. The fundraiser will be held at St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Barrington, IL. To find out more information about the Chicago area fundraiser, please visit Restore Trinity Claiborne.
Camp Restore Partners with Families of Oil Spill Victims
July 22, 2010-
Written by Michael Pieper
Photos by Han Nguyen
Well hello there, my name is Michael and I’ve been interning at Camp Restore this summer. In lieu of typing for the next several hours, telling you all how amazing the past five weeks have been, I will just succinctly state that the experience has vastly exceeded my expectations, and that through it God has revealed an incredible amount of his love and power to me.
A big part of the reason it has been so great is what this little blurb is about:
At a meeting in mid-June that I was fortunate enough to attend, numerous non-profits and outreach organizations convened to get the latest update on the vast number of issues concerning the oil spill and to decide what they could do about it. During the meeting, Joycelyn Heintz, a local woman working for a different rebuilding organization, talked about some of the human needs that she had learned of. She said that she kept hearing, from the wives of the fisherman, that the children of the fishermen now had nothing to do and they had just been sitting around in the house.
I later learned that many of the fisherman-families were a lot like the old-time farm-families, in the sense that the whole family was involved in the work; the fishing business was a family business, and so the oil spill hadn’t just effected the employment of the father or the mother, but for many it had affected the whole family’s way of life. I also learned that since the main or only source of income had recently slowed or ceased, some of these families were now living without electricity. With no electricity indoors, it being in the heat of the summer outdoors, and, ultimately, without the routine activities of participating in fishing, children had ended up with no other option than to stay indoors with little or no activity.
Kathy Wendling, the Director of Ministry Restoration at Camp Restore, approached Joycelyn after the meeting about wanting to get involved in putting on some type of event for these kids. Through conversation, we came up with the idea of putting on a 3-day “field day”/“fun camp”/“play day”, and before I knew it, Kathy had allowed me, from Camp Restore’s end of things, to take responsibility on the planning and developing of all this. It was really exciting, but really scary too, knowing that I was being given an amazing opportunity to work on such an awesome project.
I attended three meetings with Joycelyn and with some of the fisherman wives. These women, the wives, were something else, but in a very good way. They had a presence that seemed to fill up the entire room, and they also had an amazing drive about them, like they could do pretty much anything if they were to decide to really go ahead and do it. The best portion of the “work” in preparing for this event was done by them, and I thought that was appropriate. They testified to how good it felt to have the opportunity to put their mind and effort back into a task again, after the oil spill had been trying to force upon them idleness. It was awesome to witness them being able to work on something for their own community, for their families and their neighbors and all the people they love, rather than just accepting the “handout” of an event like this. It was a very special partnering, being able to work with them.
Last Tuesday evening, the day before the event, I had this pit in my stomach. I had spent the day stressing out about all of the work I had done up until this point. Camp Restore was providing the volunteers to facilitate this event so I was in charge of orientating the volunteers and putting together a number of games and activities that would occupy most of the 5 hours of this field day. My mind was racing with thoughts of the schedule for the day, the process of splitting the kids up into age groups, the stations that the groups would rotate to and from, the list of games that I had prepared for the volunteers, the breakdown of what games were in what station, etc. Late that night, one of the volunteer groups staying at Camp Restore asked me to pray with them as I was walking by on my way to go to bed. I then realized that I had been occupying myself with all of the details and nuances of tomorrow, so much so that I had not yet slowed down and actually asked God to bless it and to watch over all of it. We joined hands, went around the circle with our petitions, and at that point I totally offered up the authority and sovereignty of the next day over to God.
The next morning came and the schedule that I had spent hours laboring over, the stations I had stressed about, the age groups I had tried to plan all went right out the window. It didn’t end up happening. And it was for the best. It’s not a hard or structured thing to enjoy and experience the concept of play with children. Now, I see that it was as if God was telling me, “Michael, it’s not that hard when you just trust me.”
Click Here to View Photos of Down Da Road FUN CAMP!
The volunteers from Camp Restore that came were absolutely incredible with the kids, nothing short of blessings, straight from God, into the hearts and smiles of these children. But the kids were the highlight of the inaugural Down ‘Da Road Fun Camp (that’s the official name that we ended up calling it). They immediately opened up and made their way into our affections. Every single child, out of the approximate 100 that attended one or all of the three days, experienced the gift of fun and joy, but gave it back ten-fold to us “grown-ups”. Throughout the three days, I heard a number of kids say how much fun they were having, especially compared to how boring most days have been this summer. Hearing those words made me so happy, but also so sad, wishing that we could have this “fun camp” every day for the kids, that it could never end.
As I am writing this, my whole legs and upper body are sore, and I am completely exhausted from these three days, but mostly, I am filled in all of the other ways that matter. If you turn on CNN these days, you will hear loads about the terrible effects of this oil spill, and you can start to feel helpless in being able to offer any type of redemption to the situation. The Gulf Oil Spill is terrible; I have learned that, being here the past 5 weeks. But I want you to know that there are very good things happening in the midst of all of it. For whatever reason, I was given the invaluable opportunity to be a part of an event that brought joy and light into the lives of some of the kids and families whose lives have been so negatively affected by this disaster.
Volunteers and Community Bond Through Christ
June 1, 2010-
Written by Russell Elser
“Cheeze” is the unseen face of thousands in the New Orleans area struggling daily. During my first week interning for Camp Restore I have come across many who have stories written on their faces, in their eyes and on their hearts. They tell the tale of life post-Katrina. Cheeze, and other residents, do what they can by volunteering in the very place that feeds them. The Community Center of St. Bernard Parish is a center of service for a Parish with little left following the wake of Katrina. Camp Restore plays a role by helping to restore community and, most importantly, faith.
A young mother to be, Cheeze finds help and support at the Community Center of St. Bernard and it is with the Love of Christ that Camp Restore volunteers share a time and place with people such as her. We come not as judges of condemnation, nor with a list of should haves and could haves but simply with the Love of Christ whose power can lift the tallest mountains and toss them into the seas. She may never see volunteer Pastor Steve again but the smile on her face as they pose for pictures may never leave her memory. The strength and encouragement of the Spirit carried by our witness is the seed nourished and watered by the blood of Christ that brings strengthened faith to a girl who shall face times of uncertainty in the months and years to come. One on the side of God is a majority, and with that majority we know that God shall see her through these times.
Camp Restore volunteers come to bear witness to the hope and love which is Christ and to help restore the community. It is in the community that we need to work, with the Community Center of St. Bernard, setting up missions such as Restore Trinity Claiborne, assisting with Apex Youth Center at Gloria Dei and reaching out to the youth such as Cheeze, who are the future of the Church. It is to those in need that Christ reaches out to, it is for this reason that we have come to do this mission work. Plywood, and 2x4 studs will fade in time, but the souls of those like Cheeze are what Christ labors for. Pray for Cheeze.