NATURE CAMP was great!

We're back after another whirlwind week of Park Ave day camp! This week was great. While the middle schoolers zipped around to local colleges getting tours, schpeils and peeks into the world of higher education, K-5 campers had our first ever week of Nature/Environmental Camp! The mini-college tour included Augsburg, MCTC, Bethel and Le Cordon Bleu while the rest of us got to visit a Recycling Plant, a nature center, the Farmers' Market and last but certainly not least, the Como Zoo. We found colors in the woods to match every paint color imaginable and even discovered clay beneath the sand at the beach! Although nature's all around us most of the time, it was really exciting to spend a week paying closer attention to the truly remarkable ways the God chose to give this planet life. There are several more camps left in our summer schedule but it's a little sad to only have one more week of day camp to look forward to, which will be Arts Camp next week. We're all getting a little tired, but the summer's going very well and we're still feeling grateful to have such a meaningful way to spend our time!

Thanks again for all your prayers and support. It will always be an extremely important part of what makes the summer program a success!

NATURE CAMP PREP WEEK/FREE LUNCH FOR THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Hello again! Summer staff here :)

We're glad to report that last friday we completed our second successful week of serving free (government sponsored) lunches to kids in the neighborhood and their families. Most days we've managed to hand out almost as many meals as we had available to us, which is really great. It's been a nice opportunity to check in with some of the kids we know from camp as well as make sure that kids who haven't registered yet, sign up for the bunch of camps that remain. Although we've definitely had a consistent group of rather picky eaters and the "share" table has been pretty full at times, it's been great to get to provide so many of our neighbors with healthy meals on days they don't have camp or summer school.

Lunch is only served from 12-1 and so there's quite a bit of time remaining in the work day for those of us who are full-time adult summer staff, but we've managed to stay pretty busy. Nature camp is this week and there was lots to do to prepare and so each of us spent a few days at church finishing the jobs we've been assigned and debriefing about camp last week so we can adjust things for the future. I think I speak for everyone when I say we all feel very blessed to have the privilege of working with people we like so much and with whom we have so much fun. Although there's plenty of exhaustion, there's never a dull moment on summer staff :)

Thanks for your continued prayer and support.  It's extremely important for us to know and continue to feel like we're not alone in all of this. That's all for now, more next week!

Tronix Camp!

Day camp was very exciting this week at Park Avenue!!! We just wrapped up Tronix Camp! Each age group of kids was able to learn about a different aspect of the electronic world, build different things and take them home. Kindergarten through Second Grade did projects with motors and magnets and were able to build compasses and circuits. Third through 5th grade built motor boats and raced them on Friday. Finally, Middle School built and decorated working electric guitars!!! We are very grateful for the Tronix Team which helped the kids create these incredible things.

The projects that the tronix team led were fascinating and an awesome opportunity for the kids. Throughout the week there were glimpses of the Kingdom of God too. One of those moments occurred on the final
day, Friday. One of the kids I had in my small group was Jarrod*. Jarrod* said he had never been to church at all or camp here at Park Avenue. On Friday I asked Jarrod* if he had learned anything about God this week. He told me that he learned about the amazing sacrifice Jesus made for him. As awesome as the Tronix activities and games were, what Jarrod* learned is what we're all about; showing the kids we work with a God who loves them more than they could ever dream. All the glory to Jesus.

*Jarrod- name changed.

Day Camp Week 1

We are starting a blog for Park Avenue Youth and Family Services! During the summer one of the biggest things that PAYFS does is the urban summer program. We just wrapped up our first week of day camps for preschool through junior high. This week we were blessed to have a group of about 30 volunteers from the youth group at Wheaton Bible Church in Wheaton, Illinois serving with us. Their help made this first week of camp go smoothly. We are so grateful for all their hard work!

During the week, the preschool group went to the Splash Pad, Como Zoo and the Wild Rumpus Bookstore.

This week was Sports camp for the Kindergarteners through 5th graders. They were split by gender rather than age for the week. They played basketball, kickball, had a baseball clinic with the MN Twins and spent all of Friday at Tropics Water Park.

The 6th-8th graders focused on missions and service this week at camp. They swept the stairwells at Ebenezer apartments, packaged food at Feed My Starving Children, served meals at the Marie Sandvik Center and volunteerses at Goodwill in Hopkins.

Tune in again for more updates as the summer continues, and please remember to keep us in your thoughts and prayers. It's really important!