Camp Saved opened at the Broadway United Methodist Church in 1990. In 2007 Camp Saved relocated to South 4th street. Most students live within a few blocks of the site. In the school year we pick up students from the U.S. Wiggins Elementary School. Our program has 35-40 students in the school year and grows to about 60 for our summer program.
For the new year we welcome two new staff members: Dennis and Richard
Richard is not only a former streetleader but also a former Camp Saved student. Richard is working with our homework class. This month we will be learning about Benjamin Franklin in our after homework activities and taking a trip to see his former home turned museum in Philadephia.
Dennis is also a former streetleader and was in the first graduating class of the CamdenForward School. Dennis is working with our activity classes. This week the kids turned our front window into a "stained glass" sign for our camp. It really stands out at night. Great job everyone!
We had a great time celebrating Thanksgiving as a community. Combining Camp Saved and Camp Grace, we had over 150 people!
Both Camp Saved and Camp Grace gave a choir performance. We shared pictures and memories from the past as we enjoyed lots of wonderful food. We also had a special performance by the Dancing Diva's - the Camp Saved Praise Dance Team.
They reminded us all of what we have to be thankful for: How He Loves Us!
As we get ready for the holidays, we have much to be thankful for. We put together this little clip to express our thanks to all our sponsors. Your faithful and generous support covers the exciting things like special trips and events to "boring" things like utility bills and gas for the bus. You have been a blessing to us this year. Thank you and we pray that you will have a very blessed holiday.
Each month we will be highlighting one of our students. This month's student is Peter who has been attending Camp Saved for @3 years. He is very good at math, loves spicy doritios, but not root beer. One of his favorite UrbanPromise memories is from this past summer - playing games with Roman (a summer intern). Peter is in the 5th grade and came up with this story to introduce himself in a fun way.
God gives us strength strong enough to part a river.
Part a river
Now point to the sky and now you’re saved, saved, saved, etc.!!
Sadly, we did not win the golden crate. (congradulations to camp hope and camp freedom!)
But, we close the summer knowing we have a
TRUE TREASURE (one that can not be stolen or destroyed) in Jesus who is our
TRUE FRIEND (there for us in good times and bad). This friend has
TRUE POWER (even the winds and waves obey him). He gives us
TRUE LOVE (proven with action - dying on the cross, not just words) and
TRUE PEACE (that goes beyond our understanding - a peace even in difficult situations)
Remember Camp Saved: We can listen to win candy which will only last a little while, or we can listen to learn something about God which is something that will last forever.
It has been a great summer and special thanks needs to go to a tremendous intern and streetleader staff. Our summer was a success because of your gifts and talents and the way we came together as a team.
Things will be quiet for about a month and then we will be starting up Afterschool Program. Till then, grace and peace to all.
Proverbs tells us "A friend loves at all times." We learned this week that a true friend is around in the good times and the bad (when you have candy to give out and when you are out of candy). We learned that it is important to choose our friends carefully because they help shape our life. Another Proverb taught us that whoever walks with the wise will become wise. We want to know Jesus as our true friend who loves us at all times and will help us become wise.
Lots of smiles this week again. We made playdough, paper mache, ubliegook, and silly putty. Both basketball teams (boys and girls) won their game and we had a fun trip roller skating. For this week's video we took a lot of pictures with our friends at camp but what is more amazing is that we are a friend of God.
Meet our little guys from out 1st and 2nd grade class. These guys know how to have fun!
Special shout out to our friends from Free Evangelical Fellowship of Easton, MA. Great to have your help for the week. We will miss you.
Our theme this week was True Treasure. Our camp has a special treasure -- the CAMP SAVED DIAMOND! But we learned this week that earthly treasures are not as important as heavenly treasures -- because earthly treasures can be stolen -- like our diamond. It took us all week but we recovered our diamond from the bald man in the purple cape. We are glad to have it back but we know that we have a greater treasure in Jesus that can not be stolen or wear out from rust or moth.
Super Hot Week! We even had to cancel camp activities on friday because of the high heat index. But we still had a great week. We played water games to keep cool, went on a skating trip, had special dance classes, and learned about true love. True love is more than just words, more than hugs and kisses - true love has been shown by God. Romans 5:8 was our verse for the week: but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. What great love He has shown us!
We are off to a great start of the summer at Camp Saved. One of the highlights of the first week was sand art. All the supplies (including all the sand) came as a donation from a school in MA.
In Bible we are learning about truth - and this week true power. We are learning about how Jesus calmed the storm - now that is power. The disciples asked, "What kind of man is this that even the wind and the waves obey him?" We are learning that Jesus has true power because he is more than just a man - He is also the Son of God.
It is great to be back at camp with old friends and to have the chance to make new ones!
The top 16 students will being going on a spring break adventure this month. These are the students with the most total points for the school year. Points come from both good behavior and attitude as well as finishing homework. These trips are a learning experience, just plain fun, and a reward for working hard all year.
This year we will be spending one day in central PA. The family of one of our interns will be hosting us. We will be enjoying the outdoors with hiking, checking out the farm animals, and cooking over a fire. Another day we will be exploring Gettysburg and learning about this key Civil War battle. We also will have a "choose your own adventure" day which will bring us to various places and activities depending on what choices the group makes. Our story will be a quest for a diamond, a very special diamond which will become the Camp Saved Diamond.
Check in next month to see if our quest was successful.
While most of the city was trying to dig out from yet another snow storm, many kids were asking there mom, "Where is my bathing suit?" This is because a bathing suit is a key item for a long standing UrbanPromise tradition - the First and Second Grade retreat.
Our first stop was at the indoor water park - Coco Keys. The kids had a blast playing water basketball, riding the inner tubes, and sliding down all sorts of water slides. We had pizza and then played in the water until closing time. For the night we stayed at the UrbanPromise Student center, with mattresses spread throughout the building. In the morning there was some debate among the boys as to who snored the loudest but for the girls, Samantha was the unanimous winner. For breakfast we went to McDonald's and played some more before going home.
We had a great Christmas at Camp Saved. One of the things we did to celebrate was to decorate our bus. We posted pictures wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and we even had Christmas lights inside!
The Downtown After-school Program is off to a good start. We have many children who started attending in the summer and are now starting their first year in our school year program. The kids are off to a terrific start in regard to their homework. Each day during the first week we averaged near 100% of kids bringing and finishing homework. A few that didn't finish were actually upset that their parents were picking them up early because they were not quite done. We are encouraging homework completion with an incentive program for a pizza party for each class when they reach their goal number of completed homework assignments. Thanks for your sponsorship that buys things like pizza that can help kids stay motivated to work hard at their school work.
We started out early in the morning in hopes of visiting the National Zoo in Washington DC. However, just outside of Baltimore we had a tire blow out on the bus. It took a few hours to get someone to repair the tire so we went to Baltimore and visited the Port Discovery Museum. The kids had a great time climbing the play area and exploring the exhibits which are very hands on. That night the boys had a sleepover where we had fun playing games and cooking over the campfire.
We visited Baltimore a second day (scheduled visit this time). The kids had another great day exploring the National Aquarium. Everyone's favorite part was the dolphin show -- especially getting splashed by the dolphins. That night the girls had their sleepover - campfire and painting nails.
