Dec 1, 20235 min read

The Lane - December 2023

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UPDATES

Birding Retreat

We had a wonderful time with Doug and Sally Ruby October 20-22 seeing all of our feathered friends on the Eastern Shore! There were about 15 people in our birding group that joined us at various points throughout the weekend. We identitfied 99 species of birds - next time the goal will be at least 100! It was great meeting new friends, seeing new birds, and enjoying fellowship together in creation.

Fall Service Day

We had about 20 volunteers come to our fall service day. They helped us decorate for Christmas, and prepare camp for winter. We are fortunate to have so many volunteers willing to come out and help camp. Our Thursday volunteer group is an integral part of the maintenance and upkeep of camp, and these Saturday service days give opportunities for more people to support this important work.

OMA Conference

November 12-16 Jen & Jonas went to the Outdoor Ministries Association (OMA) conference for Brethren camps at Camp Eder in Pennsylvania. It was a great opportunity to connect and learn from other camps, get ideas on how to improve our operation, and enjoy fellowship with other people who are passionate about outdoor ministry. We are excited to bring the things we learned back to Camp Mardela.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Sights & Sounds of Christmas - December 9th & 16th, 2023 - 5pm-8pm

Join us for a drive-thru light display, enjoy live Christmas music, bid on Christmas decorations at the Silent Auction and more! Admission is $5 per vehicle.

Winter Service Day -

February 10th, 2024 - 9am-3pm

Join us for another Saturday work day as we prepare for winter retreats. We will be cleaning, organizing, and working on maintenance jobs around camp. Lunch is provided at 12pm.

Spring Camp Auction -

April 6th, 2024 - 8am-1pm

Come to our biggest fundraiser of the year and support Camp Mardela by donating items to sell, purchasing ads or sponsorships for the auction booklet, or by coming and bidding.

FUNDRAISERS

Krabill Hall Brick Sale

Order bricks with custom text to put in the brick garden at the Peace Pole! Proceeds will go to heat and AC in Krabill. Order at www.campmardela.org/keeping-krabill-cool.

Scrip

Order gift cards online & a percentage is given to camp when you use camp's code (request via email). Order at www.raiseright.com.

Camp Store

Give the gift of Camp Mardela this year! Buy camp shirts, stickers, and bandanas, or camp gift cards from the camp store online at www.campmardela.org/fundraisers.

Year-End Donation

As we enter a season of generosity, we ask you to prayerfully consider giving a year-end donation to Camp Mardela. Donations support us through the winter, fund our project goals and help campers to come to camp. To make a donation, visit www.campmardela.org/payments, or mail donations to P.O. Box 460, Denton, MD 21629

Camp Auction & Yard Sale

The spring auction is just around the corner! We are looking for high-quality items to sell at our Auction, and gently-used second-hand items for our Yard Sale. Contact campmardela@gmail.com if you have items to contribute to these spring fundraisers. Visit www.campmardela.org/spring-auction for information on ads & sponsorships as well.

VOLUNTEERS & STAFF NEEDED!

Christmas Volunteers

We are in need of volunteers for our Sights & Sounds of Christmas event December 9th & 16th from 5pm-8pm. We need the following for each weekend:

Admissions
Hay Wagon Drivers
Kids Craft Facilitators
Christmas Tree Silent Auction Facilitators
Sound Technicians

Please email campmardela@gmail.com if you are able to help for one or both weekends in any of these capacities.

Summer Staff

It's never too early to start thinking about summer! For 2024, we plan to hire 1 Food Service Supervisor, 3-4 Cooks, 1-2 Waterfront Staff, 2-3 Maintenance/Resource Staff. If you are at all interested in working at Camp Mardela in the summer of 2024, you can apply TODAY! Find job descriptions and applications at https://www.campmardela.org/jobs.

Winter & Summer Counselors

As we are finalizing program schedules for 2024, we will need program volunteers for winter retreat weekends and week-long summer camp programs. If you are at all interested in being a volunteer counselor, please contact campmardela@gmail.com and we will find a place for you to serve next year!

BVS UPDATES

BVSer Blog - Written Oct 4, 2023

Hi there! How are you all doing? I'm hoping good. I'm settling in great at camp.

I had a lot of firsts this past month. My first Family Camp, which was awesome, the kitchen ROCKS. My first Camp Supper which was great and delicious. Also I had my first Pumpkin Roll, VERY tasty. While talking about food, I had my first Crabs (and Crab Feast) this month too. And finally I have a Maryland Crab Sticker now! I also joined Easton Church of the Brethren's Peachblossom Bells, it's a lot of fun.

I did a lot of stapling for mass mailing such as our Newsletter, so don't worry you'll probably hear from us. I'm glad it's not as hot and humid anymore but I wouldn't have anything against a little sunshine in exchange for all the rain and wind, which by the way caused us having two chairs in the swimming pond. Christmas is definitely coming, we started decorating this month, I climbed all the roofs of king retreat center and the craft house is still stuffed with more decorations to keep us busy. And of course this month didn't pass without me painting again, did you notice the popping colors of the welcome sign at the beginning of the lane?

Have a great next month and you'll hear from me again at the end of it.

Summer in Fall? Christmas decoration in October? - BVS Blog - Written Nov 13, 2023

This month started out pretty cold, so I got a heater in House of Esther now and the leaves on the trees and mostly the ground also say it should be fall, but the temperature decided it's still summer. So the heater isn't in use anymore and in the next few days I'll move to a dorm room in the King retreat center, since the possibility of summer ending is still there.

I've been to Washington D.C. twice this month. The first few days of October for representing camp at the MAD-Conference and visiting the local BVS volunteers. And then just last week for a concert by Michael W. Smith in the Cannon building on Capitol Hill.

Since we had our birding retreat this month, I saw a lot of Maryland/Delaware nature which was really nice, as were the people but not that surprising I still know almost nothing about birds. Additional to birding we also collected trash in the nature by the example of Fred. And we broke one of the van keys in the van but luckily were able to get it to work again.

As for music, I got to play one of my favorite flute pieces at Easton COB, the Sicilienne by Gabriel Faure. Also I saw Jen performing with her two competing choirs and went to a rehearsal for a Christmas choir performing on the radio city stage in November, no worries I'm just signing. I'm very excited to go to New York next month though.

I'm also very excited about the macarons I baked, since it was the first time without recipe and a scale and it worked out pretty good for that.

We had our last rental group for this year so it was good to have a fuller month before the slow months are starting. So in preparation for the last big camp activity this year, the Sights and Sounds of Christmas new lights are coming up every week.