Camp Boost 2014 in review: God sightings

The dust has settled on Camp Boost 2014! What an amazing time seeing churches come around our city’s kids to give them a summer reading boost, a safe environment, and the love and hope of Christ.

Here are a few “God sightings” from this year’s camps!

* 219 kids participated in Camp Boost this year between three sites: High Street Nazarene, Clifton Avenue Church of God, and St. John Missionary Baptist Church.

* A 10-year-old boy who was determined not to enjoy himself was heard asking his grandma to take him to the library after Camp Boost so that he could find one of the books his class his teacher had introduced him to.

* Comic Creations teacher Mike Lopez gave his students – 10 and 11-year-old boys – several choices for activities one day. They wanted to read the Action Bible!

* Final count: 128 volunteers were involved this year between three camps! That includes 37 teen workers. (Even three GirlPower girls!)

* Several last-minute crises left a few spots to fill at Clifton Avenue. Our friends at Lincoln Promise Neighborhood sent us five quality people, either VISTAs or volunteers who already worked with them.

* A brand-new, high-quality Bible went home with every child who wanted one! We never got an exact count (it gets a little crazy) but it was just shy of 200 Bibles. SCYM’s grand total Bible expense was $16. The rest was all donated by our community or supplied by High Street Nazarene.

* Our friends at Jackson Lytle Lewis Life Celebration Center rocked the community book drive this year! All 200+ Camp Boost kids got to take home free books, and there were even a few left over.

* Three churches stepped up and fed Camp Boost kids breakfast and lunch every day for an estimated 1,700 meals! (Not even counting volunteers, who ate too!)

* At Clifton Fashionistas (5^th/6^th grade girls) the group struggled with verbally tearing each other down. After practicing group “appreciations,” girls were speaking words of encouragement to each other! Jessica, their teacher, said, “I almost cried!”

* From a Superheroes (K-1st grade) kid survey about Clifton Camp Boost … “it help you know that if you be scared of something you can come to church.”

* After Camp Boost had ended at St. John on the last day, several students were still sitting with their teacher in the “Be a Star” classroom. She informed me that they didn’t want to leave! They all asked if they could have another week of Camp Boost.

We’re grateful to God for SO MANY people who prayed and pitched in and gave to make it possible for all of these kids to have Camp Boost this summer! We’ll leave you with the words of this little girl: “My suggestion for Camp Boost is that it is two weeks longer.”