Dear Prayer Coordinators,
I cannot believe that the Winter Camp 2015 season has come and passed.
It was a great time. We take comfort in your prayers and are so thankful for
your faithfulness to pray for the campers, junior counselors, counselors, and
directors. Your prayers make a difference. God has heard your cry and answered.
This last winter camp, Session #8 on March 6-8 for 10th-12th
grade camps, was a lot of fun. In all we had 11 campers and 10 counselors. In
the group of campers in particular were four seniors. It is always bittersweet
to have seniors at camp. For the sweet part, many of them have been attending
camp for years and years and so the relationship with them is rich and deep. It
is fun to talk about their camp memories and hear what Camp Alandale means to
them. However, the bitterness is that we have to send them off. In some way it
is like parents sending their children away from home for the first time often
for many to attend college, start new jobs, or travel the world. For these
seniors, however, life after being in the foster care system is not a great or
easy place. In fact, the current statistics are not in support of successful futures
for them. Right now, 70% of all state prison inmates were in foster care
and 51% of all children in foster care who emancipate from the system are
unemployed in 2-4 years.
During our final time together over the weekend, I
shared with the group that Victory Circle at high school camps are scary for
me. One of the campers, George, quickly asked if it was because I didn’t know
what the campers might say. We laughed, but Amy quickly responded with a
question, “Do you know what happens to most of the kids who emancipate from the
foster care system?” George immediately answer, “Either they go to prison or
die.” Sadly, George was correct. I followed by sharing the hope that we have in
Jesus and the trust that we have for the campers that Jesus sends his Spirit to
help them, to comfort them, and to guide them. We asked the four seniors to come
forward so that they could have the opportunity to share with the whole group.
Up came Adriana, seven months pregnant and about
to move into a women’s home the next week from her foster home. Up came John,
who shared that Camp was most important to him because it was where he accepted
Jesus years before. Up came Crystal, who had not been to camp in years but
fondly remembered the love and care from the counselors that she felt at a
young age. And up came Josie, who is in the process of being approved as a
Junior Counselor and wants to give back to the people and place that means so
much to her. Tears were shed during that time as we rejoiced to have them with
us and prayed for them as they moved on. Will you continue to pray for
Adriana, John, Crystal, and Josie as they transition out of the foster care
system?
Again, thank you for hanging with us through
another camp season. We appreciate you and your service to Camp Alandale.
In the name of Jesus,
Jeremy Allen
