Dan Schmoyer’s Blog

Summer is now here and things are going to be crazy busy!! We have events planned for the next three months.  They range from simple (coffee house and games at TreeHouse) to complex (Missions trip to Arkansas; JR High camping trip to the North Shore, etc…). Last week we had our Summer Kick-Off (aka “Bringing Velcro Back”) and it was my first activity/event to plan and coordinate. Our goal was around 40 kids. I had planned to have a Velcro Wall set up for everyone to use, hotdogs, chips, basketball, lawn bowling, music, and other group games. In order to help promote the evening we went to the a few of the schools we serve during lunch periods to give out info about the event and talk the event up so they’d be excited about coming.

We must be good at marketing or something! Let’s just say we overpassed the 40 youth mark. In fact, we almost doubled it! We had over 70 kids and staff there! It was crazy, crazy, crazy! I thought it was pretty busy and hectic when we’d have just 40-45 kid show up for a program or activity, but that was TAME compared to this night! Thankfully we had 2 extra adults there to help volunteer and see what TreeHouse was all about.

The night went really well for having so many kids. It was supposed to thunderstorm and rain during the hours our event was taking place but God held the bad weather off and gave us a perfect evening. The Velcro Wall was a hit, the hotdogs were eaten up immediately, and we were able to connect with a bunch of the new kids. In fact, I was able to hang out with one of the new guys today. He is going into 8th grade and was born in Yemen before coming to the USA 4 years ago. He is a great kid and hopefully will learn a lot at TreeHouse over the next few years. This young boy’s parents both work but his Dad is not working now because of a broken foot. That said, expenses are a little tight at his household. I hope he is able to attend more TreeHouse events because he adds so much to the group and has fit in very well for being so new.

Many of you will be receiving a letter from me in the mail soon. It is my updated Summer 2007 newsletter. It also has a small sheet of paper in it that I would like you to read. It is a yellow slip of paper with scholarship info on it. As most of you know, the kids at TreeHouse do not have the ability to pay for some of the larger activities. To help with that we send out a letter with this yellow scholarship info sheet at the beginning of the summer. If you feel like God is leading you to give above and beyond what you already give or have given than I would encourage you to send in an extra donation with that yellow sheet. That money will go directly in to my scholarship account and I will be able to use that to help kids pay for an event that they would otherwise not be able to attend.

Example: This July I am taking a group of Jr. High students on a camping trip. The cost for the trip is $110. Sounds pretty steep, huh!? Well, it includes a week of food, Kayak rental for a day on a lake, transportation, campground fees, and state park parking fees. Overall, that’s a pretty good deal. BUT, when I’ve talked to kids about going on the trip they’ve all said the same thing. “I really want to go but I don’t know if I’ll be able to get all of the money together for the trip.” Some kids have jobs and are able to save and pay for most of their trips. Others have no resources other than their parents for trip money. I would love to have every kid come and grow on this awesome trip.

That is where you all come in. If I have the scholarships available, I would like to tell each kid that if they really want to come money will not be an obstacle. Obviously they will have to try their best to work and do things to make it happen from their side but that doesn’t always meet the needs. Just pray about what you think God would have you do and take it from there.

If you do not receive my quarterly newsletter and would like to begin receiving it just let me know and I’ll add you to my list. If you want to be off my list and not receive any annoying letters or emails just let me know and I’ll take you off both lists.

I hope you’re all having a great day! If you want to see what is going on here at Chaska TH go to “TreeHouse Youth Outreach” on my Blogroll and click on “About Us”- “Chaska” to view our summer events calender. Also, if anyone is interested in attending one of our program nights or events to see what it’s like just let me know and we’ll see what we can work out.