The camping season has come and gone! Our staff ventured in from all over New England and faithfully served God here in the little town of Northfield. We had a great first week of Camp with our pioneers. Such joy filled our hearts seeing the little ones running up and down the hill after a year of quiet. As the weeks progressed we dealt with some issues brought on by that quiet year, but the Lord remained faithful. His providence was shown this year in many ways, the most striking being the nearly perfect camper to staff ratio each week. It was a "smaller" summer in the way of numbers but God still moved in BIG ways! By the end of the summer, eight children had come to know the Lord! Our counselors, staff, and speakers poured their hearts into these children and it was wonderful to see the fruits of that love at the end of each week. God blessed us with wonderful young men and women who have a heart to serve. He truly hand-picked each one to be here this summer, providing Camp with "seasoned" staff in leadership roles and 13 brand new staff members, four of whom had no prior experience at Camp. Keep them in prayer as they go back to their regular lives. If you know one of our staff members personally, encourage them to continue serving God in their home churches, schools, and families.
Much has happened since our last letter and we hope you will find it encouraging. During staff week we were hard at work on the RV Sites. We were able to successfully put in three RV sites. These three sites were very popular this year, and we are excited to continue expanding these sites for you all. Volunteers came in from all over to head up projects prior to staff week: a support beam that had rotted away due to water damage was replaced on the back porch of the hilltop lodge and the cooks bathroom was completed, adding an additional shower to the Hilltop. Naturally, cleaning and repairs slowed down during the summer season but did not stop. The Boy and Girls staff were put right to work helping with projects like making repairs to the outdoor chapel, utilizing pavers to put in a walkway outside the offices, removing a few truck loads of brush from the property, painting the Hilliker interior and the speakers cabin, adding cabinets in the Hilliker laundry room, and laying new flooring in the offices. During Family Camp, campers and staff members helped build a 24' x 6' wood shed out back of the maintenance garage, and our guest speaker fixed the windows in the chapel. Weeks prior, we had a volunteer help with replacing and repairing our outdoor PA system and another volunteer helped with staining and painting. One of our supporting churches was here this past week working on finishing the Maintenance Garage - it came out great! We've added double doors to the rear of the building so we can pull in and work on the lawn mowers and other smaller equipment. The entire building was painted and a new floor was put in the main section of the building. While that was the focus, they also had another building on their hearts and it showed. After years of waiting we finally got the Moody Cabin worked on. They did a fantastic and thoughtful job! We recently had a shed donated to Camp to replace the old program shed. It needs work on the roof, but we already lined up a volunteer to do the repairs. Many churches and many people are doing wonderful things up here at Camp. It is moving to see so many people giving of their time and money to come and volunteer. God is doing a mighty work here and it's exciting to see this all unfold!
We are making some changes on our website. You will notice a few new pages to help better inform you with what is going on up here at Camp. If you are interested in helping with upcoming projects and the upkeep of Camp, we've added a new page called "Work at Camp". This is where you can find our current needs both big and small. We've also added a new page for our Pool Project with current, up-to-date information.
Labor Day is right around the corner and we would love for you to join us! Please sign up on the website whether you're coming for the full weekend or barbecue that Monday. We will be celebrating Camp's 60th Anniversary at the barbecue, you won't want to miss it! Men's Retreat is September 24th and 25th. The Ladies and Alumni Retreats booked up rather quickly, so don't delay in registering! Our speaker will be Pastor Tom Jackson from People's Regular Baptist Church out of Maybrook, New York.
As you all are aware our pool was shut down for many reasons this summer, ultimately because of its rough condition. We were hoping to be able to throw some paint on the pool, fill it, and call it good. Sadly, that idea was a wash. Our 80 year old pool has served Camp well, but is in need of replacement. The total cost for
this project will be $60,000. This is perhaps the costliest and biggest job Camp has faced since the Hilliker Building Project. This pool has played a huge part in our daily activity for years and we'd hate for our campers to go one more summer without one. This fundraiser will be posted on our website. If you would like to make a donation specifically to this project, please send Camp a check with "Pool Project" in the memo line. Any donations made through the website go into our general funds and are not designated to a specific need. If you choose to use the portal, please follow the donation with an email designating the funds to this project. As we did with our Brown House Project we will keep you informed as time progresses. Please be in prayer, and consider helping bring the waves back to Camp Northfield.
A smaller, yet equally important need is a new hot water heater for the Girls Shower House. It would be great to see this need met before the fall shut down. The current water heaters need to be replaced with an 80 gallon electric water heater. If you are interested in helping with this need, please let us know.
D.L. Moody once said, "I think Northfield is just about as near Paradise as we can get on earth." Many of you who have been up here might agree with Mr. Moody. When donations are made, when volunteers come and serve, and when you attend our camps and retreats, you make it possible for us to do what we do. It's my prayer that everyone who is reading this update would be involved in one of those ways. Camp Northfield is a special place to be and we'd hate for you to miss out on such a wonderful ministry located right in your backyard. It's my prayer that we can fill this property once again with men, women, and children who have a desire to get away from the hustle & bustle of this world and stop and focus on the beauty of our Creator's handiwork. We so humbly give Him all the praise and glory for the work accomplished this summer, and thank Him once again for saving those 8 precious souls!
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