February 7, 2024
A Note from April Andrick
Dear Friends,
This July will be the 109th year of Lakeside Institute camp — 109 years of a camp dedicated to the faith journeys of youth & young adults! Thinking about the number of teenagers, adults, and families that have been impacted by camp over that number of years leaves me in awe.
Did you know that the youth group here at HUMC has been sending youth to Lakeside for more than twenty years? Did you know that we have several adult congregation members (no worries, I won’t age any of you 😊) that have been connected to the camp much longer than that, from when they themselves went to camp there??
When I take a cursory look at the number of camper registrations we have had just from our church in the last 10 years, we are in the 230s.
More than 230 times, campers have returned to our local community after a week of being immersed in God’s love, grace, forgiveness, compassion, calling, anointing, guidance, and so much more… and that’s just the number from less than half of the time we have been connected to camp!
How can we not be excited to know that we are so strongly connected to this camp, woven deep into the fibers of a place that so many young lives are positively impacted? A place where youth and young adults are able to continue to grow their personal faith journeys… A place that helps prepare them for a continued relationship with Christ when they move out of the comfort of their homes and beyond their parent’s faith lives that have formed them…
Well, with all this excitement I bet you are asking how you can help support this amazing ministry!?!? There are several ways!
Help support fundraising efforts!
On March 17 we will be holding a pancake breakfast and silent auction to raise money for camp fees. We need donated items for the auction: we are accepting gift cards, new items, and themed items until March 1 for the auction (please no gently-used items).
We also need people who are hungry to come eat and those who like to buy things to bid at the auction! (We will also have a couple more fundraisers before camp, so keep an eye out for those as well!) (https://hilliardumc.org/events/pancake-breakfast/)
Consider sponsoring a camper!
Camp can be expensive, especially for those families with more than one camper to register. Maybe you are able to help more by sponsoring a specific camper, or maybe you can partially sponsor a youth or two. If you feel led to help in this way, please let me know!
Pray, send letters, etc.
Campers and volunteer leaders can receive letters during camp week, so maybe you want to write an encouraging note. Maybe you want to make or send snacks or drinks for the campers the week of camp, or help offset the cost of meals during camp. Maybe you would be willing to help carpool some of the campers up to camp. Maybe you would like to help offset the cost of tee-shirts for camp. There are so many ways to help, and each contribution helps us lower the cost for the campers.
And we seek your prayers.
Pray for the campers who already know they are coming this year, for the ones whom God is still working on, for the leaders who have answered the call, and for the full community, that we can continue to offer this space for teens and youth for another 100+ years!
If you feel led in any way to help support our camp efforts, please connect with me! I would love to hear from you!
This is a transformative week in the lives of our young people. God shows up in amazing ways in their lives, and it’s a beautiful to thing to get to experience!
April
April Andrick
Director of Youth Ministry
