April 29, 2022
Good Newsletter
Greetings and Blessings to you all,
Easter has come! Spring has sprung!
The lake is open and clear and ready for boating and fishing. Birds and frogs are singing. The ferns are unfurling. Groups are arriving to craft, worship, and grow together.
Churches, youth groups, and individuals are making summer and fall reservations. And volunteers are dusting off their tools and starting to help our small, talented, and dedicated staff get the camp ready for a vibrant summer. We are busy and we are blessed.
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Many thanks for this meditation from Rev. Paul Schmiege, who presided at worship this past Sunday. Pastor Schmiege is pastor emeritus of Saint Luke’s Lutheran Church of Times Square. He recently served as Interim Pastor of Saint Luke’s in Greeley PA and has since the mid-1980’s served multiple terms on Koinonia’s Board of Directors.
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Board Retreat September 13th-15th
Koinonia's newly elected board will have its first gathering of the year at Koinonia. Keep them and the Executive Board in your prayers. Among other items on the Agenda, the Strategic Planning Goal Committee Champions will make reports. Current updates below:
Goal Committee Work
Goal 1 – Operating Revenue (Champion – Mark Wilson): We are continuing to conduct outreach to bring in both philanthropic dollars and rental revenue in order to ensure a balanced budget and, ideally, a surplus by the end of 2022.
Goal 2 – Connections to member congregations (Champion – Kristi Jasberg-Robinson): This committee met most recently on April 23. The social media subcommittee has a plan for posts on Instagram and Facebook for the month of May. The posts will highlight Koinonia's upcoming 5K and summer events. Pastor Paul has substantially completed his initial calls to every member congregation. Kristi will circulate a list of follow up calls that need to be made to the member congregation outreach subcommittee. The next committee meeting will be on June 4.
Goal 3 - Capital Campaign (Champion – Anthony Geraci): The Capital Campaign is gaining momentum. The Prospectus should be ready to print soon, and a Campaign film is in the editing process. The Major Gifts and the Current/Alumni Board Teams are being built by their Chairs, and we are sending a letter to member congregations and MetroNY Synod Congregations soon.
All Board Reunion-June 11, 2022
To celebrate the resurrection of Koinonia, 60 years of Board Ministry, and thank Board Members past and present, Koinonia is hosting an All Board Reunion on Saturday, June 11th from 2pm until 8pm. If you have served on the Koinonia Board and have not received a Save the Date, please email [email protected] so we can get you on our mailing list. Rev. James and Ellie Sudbrock will host. Register here.
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Fundraising/ Finance Update
Lora Baumhardt, Development Associate, spearheaded the mailing of the Spring Appeal and has been carefully tracking results. We are getting new donors and returning donors. Generous gifts from the Spring Appeal enabled us to glide through March and April, and bookings at the beginning and end of April have also brought in needed revenue. The Spring Appeal will continue until Memorial Day Weekend. We are continuing to be conservative in hiring and in daily expenses.
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Property
Matt Baumhardt, Retreat Director, continues to make sure that everything is running well at the camp. The Property Team set four weekends in May and June for Volunteer weekends and formalized a list of tasks that needed to be completed before the beginning of summer. Art and Danny have been clearing trees and working on the roads, and a group of talented volunteers headed by Sue Vorstadt have almost finished one of their miracle efforts at the Lakeside. Plans are in the works to roof the Lakeside and the two family before the summer. Please consider joining us for a volunteer weekend and sharing your talents in cleaning, organizing, clearing, fixing, and building. Contact Matt at [email protected] for more information.
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Worship/Program
The Craft Weekend and Quilting week were truly special. There were 7 Linus Blankets made and several quilts for Lutheran World Relief. A quilting retreat will be set for this fall, and we plan to run the craft weekend at the same time next year. At the end of April we hosted women from St.Luke’s New Rochelle for a restful retreat, and this week have a spunky group of rosemalers, including board member Shirley Erland, who are creating beautiful treasures and eating Matt’s delicious food. St. Lukes and the rosemalers are making reservations to return in the fall.
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Outreach/Marketing
At our last meeting, Board member Kelly Kandler shared a registration system that she had developed for the camp in 2017, which adds options to how we might bring some of our registration systems online. Jackie Lund has been updating the website and making it more user friendly. In May look for new social media posts designed by the Goal 2 Social Media Subcommittee, with hashtags and emojis! Please like and share our posts so we can reach more people.
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Community Outreach
Lutheran Witness Along the Delaware –Mary Button held a holy Thursday Stations of the Cross in the Conference Center at Koinonia. Pastor Mary Button and Kathleen are planning a standing monthly meeting to discuss partnerships and collaboration. Koinonia’s collaboration with St. Peter’s in Port Jervis continues. Koinonia submitted a grant for a second year of $10,000 for the Port Jervis Day Camp.
On site Day Camp – The town of Highland is planning to partner with Koinonia for its onsite day camp and may be able to contribute a significant amount to lower costs for all participants. As soon as the partnership is approved by the town, we will announce the camp and begin advertising. This will be a sustainable way for Koinonia to provide excellent care and ministry to the local community and for families staying at the camp during the summer.
Hiring - Directors for the Day Camps in Port Jervis and On Site have been found. They will be responsible for hiring staff. We hope to hire 2-3 community staff for the summer to lifeguard, help in the kitchen, and help with maintenance and housekeeping. If you know a young person 18 or older who would be a good match for Koinonia, preferably with lifeguarding skills, please share this summer application with them.
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Visits and Bookings– Kathleen visited four congregations in March and will visit Oceanside Lutheran on May 22. She is reaching out to interested congregations for summer visits. The retreat buildings are beginning to fill for the summer. St Luke’s New Rochelle and Emanuel Lutheran are in the process of booking fall retreats, and the Metro NY Synod is booking a retreat for Interim pastors. Two of the four weeks of Alternative Gatherings are full!
If you are thinking of booking a retreat, joining the Alternative Gathering, renting a cabin, or coming to one of our upcoming events (here), we urge you to contact us sooner than later. Jean Sandberg, Office Manager and Register, will take good care of you. Please email her at [email protected] and start planning your retreat.
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Memorial Weekend
5K & Walk of Honor
May 28-3oth
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Yes! The 5K is back!
During Memorial Day weekend, we will celebrate the start of summer, run/walk for Koinonia on Saturday, and walk to honor loved ones on Sunday morning.
Rev. Paul Johnsen will preside at our first summer worship in the Chapel in the Pines, and there will be BBQ’s, campfires, boating, hiking, and more. Click here for the full program. Registrations for the 5K are coming in-and until May 1 there is a discount so do not delay! Register here.
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Coming Soon....
In June we are holding two work weekends (June 3-5 and June 17-19).
On June 11th, there will be a Men’s fishing weekend run by Art Kolbjornsen (info here), and an All-Board Reunion with Rev. James and Eleanore Sudbrock. Register here
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Bonzli’s Beat
I am 10 months old! I went to visit my family in Milwaukee for Easter and played with Gracie! I am taking the Canine Good Citizen certification class again so I am really ready for the test. I like drinking the lake, and I can’t wait to swim in it. There are so many good smells here! Come visit me soon!
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We are so grateful for your participation, for the notes you send us about your memories of Koinonia, for reading this newsletter, and for your donations of time and treasure. The more people visit Koinonia, the more we can spread our mission and become strong. And if you are able, a gift large or small given today will help us tremendously. Thank you!
God Bless,
Katie Cunningham Kathleen Ruen
Board President Executive Director
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