Camp Douglas is almost in session!

Wondering what you can you do to help?

We always need lots of fresh baked homemade cookies for our evening snack time!

We also collect Canadian Tire money for purchasing new equipment!

If you can help please contact Bert at director@campdouglas.ca

Don’t forget to like us on Facebook for the most current Camp Douglas updates:

www.facebook.com/campdouglas

Our annual spring fundraiser dinner was held on Saturday, April 6th at Knox Presbyterian Church in New Westminster. The Camp 2013 Staff served guests a delicious meal of stealthily healthy camp foods including cauliflower mac and cheese, sloppy joes with hidden veggies, spinach salad and chocolate cake applesauce cupcakes with raspberry sweetened icing.

Along with a delicious dinner, attendees enjoyed classic camp entertainment such as skits, singing and a presentation of vintage camp photographs. A wonderful night was had by all. Thank you to everyone who attended and to all who helped as well!

Do you ever crave those special camp treats? You know the ones. They are made with yummy toasted marshmallows, gooey melted chocolate and sweet crispy graham crackers? I am talking about s’mores of course! Well, I did some experimenting this week and created some at home. But I didn’t use plain old white marshmallows. I used some colorful Peeps marshmallow candies instead. Don’t worry, you can still use plain marshmallows if you prefer them…

This is what you will need for one S’more:

2 graham crackers, 1 marshmallow, 2 squares of  chocolate

Once you have your ingredients, it’s time assemble them. Place one graham cracker on a microwave safe plate. Then place the chocolate on the cracker and stack the marshmallow on top of the chocolate.

Now it’s time to melt that marshmallow! This part couldn’t be easier. All you have to do is place the stacked treat into the microwave for 10-15 seconds on high. The marshmallow might get really puffy and big after you heat it. I just used the second graham cracker to straighten it out and squish it down into a yummy s’more sandwich.

Despite the fact that the marshmallows were not roasted over a campfire they still taste delicious. The heat from the microwave gets the chocolate all ooey gooey and melty too.

I hope you will try this recipe at home!

-Ruby

This year on Christmas Day, I was blessed to attend worship led by Rev. Rebecca “Bert” Simpson at St. Paul’s Presbyterian in Mission.  Amidst a beautiful worship service of carol singing and responsive readings, Bert shared a meaningful children’s message during which she illustrated the different types of gifts that we receive in the Christmas season.

There are gifts of delicious food, time with family and of course the conventional wrapped gifts that lay beneath the tree. Bert asked each of the children to name something that they had received that morning. Things like “easy bake oven” and “new slippers” were called out by the crowd. Bert carefully wrote each of these things down on her erasable white board under columns called “Family” and “Santa”. She then made a new column called “God” and asked everyone to say a gift that they received from God. Things like “joy”, “peace”, “love”, “forgiveness”, “eternal life” and “hope” were added to the list. Once the lists were all complete, Bert attempted to erase them. The gifts from the Family and Santa columns erased with ease. But the gifts from the God list remained intact, as if they were written with permanent ink instead of with a dry erase marker.

Bert’s message was that even though conventional Christmas gifts wear out and get thrown away or passed on to someone else, the gifts that we receive from God are permanent in our lives. We don’t have to wait until one special time of the year, like Christmas, to receive God’s precious everlasting gifts either.  God gives them to us feely and we are richly blessed every day. Thanks be to God!

-Ruby

Everyone who has worked for or attended Camp Douglas knows that we have a variety of ways to say grace before we sit down to enjoy a meal together. One example is the ever popular Superman Grace. If you want to bring a piece of camp home try singing this together before your next family meal. Just remember to sing it to the tune of the Superman Theme song.

Superman Grace

Thank you, Lord, for giving us food!

Thank you, Lord, for giving us food!

For daily bread

For keeping us fed

Thank you, Lord, for giving us food!

Dun da da dun!

Costume Games Night Fun!

On October 27^th Camp Douglas partnered with Haney Presbyterian Church to host a Youth Costume Games Night.  Approximately 45 youth attended the celebration.  There were plenty of creative costumes to be seen. The crowd enjoyed delicious snacks and played games such as four corners soccer, volleyball and an assortment of board games. It was a fantastic evening of safe fun and Christian fellowship.

Thank you to all who attended and volunteered!

Do you have an idea for the perfect costume? Be sure to come to the Camp Douglas Costume Games Night.

When? Saturday, October 27 from 6:00-10:00pm

Where? Haney Presbyterian Church, 11858 – 216th Street, Maple Ridge

There will be active games in the gym and board games in the hall. Along with plenty of fun games, there will be time for snacks and devotions. Prizes will be awarded for best costume, most inconvenient costume, most surprising costume and best pair/group costume. So get creative and start planning that crazy costume now.

Bring some friends and have some fun! Everyone 13 and over is welcome.

See you there!

Lunch Provided!

Work to be done: general clean up, painting, weeding, lawn care

We’ve been on a blogging-lull over the past few months, but we’re back! The Camp Douglas staff have been hard at work preparing for an amazing summer that is quickly approaching. Throughout the fall, there were some joyous events that happened for members of our present and past staff.

In September, both Rebecca “Bert” Simpson (our current director) and Curtis “Jones” Bablitz (past camp staff, director and committee member) were ordained by the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Rebecca has taken a call to be the minister at St. Pauls Presbyterian in Mission, BC while still directing Camp Douglas. Curtis and his wife Johanna (“Skittles”) have taken a call in Burlington, Ontario at Brant Hills Presbyterian. We praise God for the work that He has done in Rebecca, Curtis and Johanna’s lives.

In the fall, the Camp Douglas staff took part in a contest at Metrotown. The contest involved 3 teams stuffing themselves into a VW Beetle. The team that was able to fill their car the fastest, and with the most amount of people, won $10,000 for their charity. Camp Douglas placed second with 13 people in 58 seconds. Good job Camp Douglas!

In October, we had our third anual costume dance party at Haney Presbyterian. Many staff, volunteers and committee members came out to have a fun evening–in costume!

As well, November brought to us our first fall fundraiser dinner! Just over 100 supporters came out for an evening of Italian celebration–spaghetti and opera. Thank-you to everyone who helped us reach our goal of raising funds for camperships and bibles.

Thank-you for your continued support–Camp Douglas would not be the same without you!