It's a little bit different than what we get to put up with during June and July, our highest temp this summer was 102, with the humidity at about 99%, which put our heat index somewhere between 110 and the temperature on the surface of the planet Mercury. It's kind of fun making sure that the campers stay cool and hydrated. Sometime during the summer we decided to get some sprinklers, and set them up around camp during our games, so anyone who got too hot could run through the sprinkler and cool off. It worked, and we had a lot of fun with the sprinklers as well as with our games. I had no idea the sprinklers would be so fun, but as a Director, you learn more about what works and what doesn't every year. You also remember things that you had forgotten, like how much fun it is to run through a sprinkler as a child.
One thing that was a huge blessing for Camp Dixie this summer was our Traveling VBS Program. We ran this program for the third time this year, and were able to visit 7 congregations, as well as make a surprise appearance at an additional congregation to help them with a Day Camp program they were running in New Orleans. We received nothing but compliments about the program and the counselors, which speaks a lot to the people running the program (the counselors) and also to the need of congregations in the area to have a VBS team available. I wish there was a better way to measure the programs we run during the summer outside of sheer numbers, but other than surveys by the participants (which were very positive) I just don't know how to do that. The good thing is that the numbers are positive too, Summer Camp was within 6 campers of last summer (great considering the economy around these parts) and the Traveling VBS program had even more campers than we did last summer, and more than we had on-site this summer!
So I am almost done with the original planning process for next summer, the new website with all the dates for next summer is almost ready to be uploaded and become active. I can only pray that we have the opportunity to reach as many children next year as we did this year, and I hope we can find even more congregations to reach with Traveling VBS.
While I am thinking about blessings, and other thing that has been great for Camp Dixie has been our chicken dinners. If you've never been, we have 7 dinners during the year, and it is our major fundraiser for the Camp. This year has been amazing, we've averaged right around 600 people, in fact the last time we even ran out of chicken before the dinner was over. Thanks again to everyone who has been to a dinner this year, and if you haven't you should check them out, it's a tasty treat for a Sunday.
Well, I think that's about it for now, you can check for the website to be updated really soon, and I hope you are having a great after summer time.
See you at camp!
Mac
