Dear Parents/Guardians,
This year, the Sunday School will be once again taking the lead to help Fairlawn support Lake Scugog Camp and we are excited to have your help! Scugog is a camp that is affiliated with the United Church of Canada and has a long history of providing leadership development and support to children, youth, and parents experiencing marginalization, many from neighbourhoods in Toronto such as Regent Park.
Lake Scugog Camp is a very special camp and offers a very high ratio of staff to kids for personalized attention and connection. One of their most well known programs is a camp session for mothers and their kids where mothers have their own programming to learn new skills to enhance and support family relationships. Many of the kids attending with their mothers grow up to be camp staff, itself a leadership program with year-round programming and documented life-altering impacts. Most of the campers would not be able to attend camp without financial assistance and do not have the luxury of going on other family trips or participating in many extracurricular activities during the year. Learn more at lakescugogcamp.org.
The cost to send a camper to Lake Scugog Camp is about $1000. In 2013, Fairlawn raised over $4000 to cover the costs of four campers. Our goal for 2014 is to raise $6000, through a variety of initiatives and we would love your support! Here are some ways to be involved:
- On Sunday, April 27, there will be a time and talent (silent) auction right after worship. Families (and adults without kids too!) are invited to have a table where they can either sell items (i.e. bracelets or craft items made by kids, sandwiches/baking, art, etc.) or auction off whatever you would like (i.e. a week at your cottage, help with your taxes, a night of babysitting, a loaf of bread), with the proceeds going to Scugog. We will help you set the starting bid!
- Drive up to Lake Scugog Camp on Saturday, May 10 to join other folks from Fairlawn for their annual camp clean-up/work day! This is a great chance to see the camp facilities and meet camp staff and volunteers!
- Come to worship on May 11 for a special “Lake Scugog Camp Sunday” led by Scugog staff and featuring many fun camp activities for kids!
- Make a direct donation to the camp! Please make cheques payable to Fairlawn Ave. United Church and write “Scugog Lake Camp Fundraising” in the memo line.
- Join the “Scugog Birthday Club”! Like Will Sparrow spoke about in worship, kids and adults are invited to consider having friends and family make a donation to Lake Scugog Camp as a birthday (or anniversary, retirement, etc!) gift to them. Websites like echoage.com make this easy to set up!
- Do your own family fundraiser for Scugog – i.e. garage sale, bake sale, etc.
- Participate in Sunday School fundraisers. Different Sunday School classes will be having their own fundraisers throughout April and May – please support them as you are able!
Supporting Scugog can open up many important conversations about social justice with your children. Consider talking about the ways that going to camps (or lessons, extracurricular activities, trips, etc.) have been life-changing for you and for them. Talk about why some kids can afford to go to camp and others can’t. Talk about the importance of having time in nature, especially for kids living in busy, crowded neighbourhoods. Talk about why some parents might need help and might not normally have very much time to spend with their kids. Consider how experiences and relationships can be more important than things. Think together about what Bible stories might relate to helping kids go to camp (i.e. loving your neighbour as yourself – Luke 10: 25-37, being Christ to others – Matthew 25:35-40).
Thank you so much for your support of this and other programs at Fairlawn!
Fairlawn on the Go! 