June 30, 2022 -Good Newsletter
Greetings and Blessings to you all,
After all of our preparations including - fundraising, hiring, creating local partnerships, advertising, staff training, shopping, planning, cleaning, and more - on June 27th we welcomed 40+ children to our Nature Camp. This was a profound realization of our mission.
Read on for our June news and updates!
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Nature Camp, a six-session day camp at Koinonia, began this week. 40 kids aged 5-12 were dropped off by their families at the Chapel in the Pines, and spent the day swimming, hiking, playing, singing, and making art. Bible study was offered every day, and families had a choice to send their children to it. If you would like to read more........
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Board President Update
Happy Summer! Hope all of you are doing well and looking forward to some time to rest and relax this summer. Things continue to progress at Koinonia. We had a great Board reunion on June 11. Thanks to any of you who were able to attend! Please find below an update on our goal committee work.
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. Deposits for summer and fall rentals, Day Camp tuitions, and donations are coming in, as Kathleen notes in her report below. During the month of July we will assess our expenses and income levels to determine if we can begin thinking about expanding staffing at the camp.
Goal 2 – Connections to member congregations (Champion – Kristi Jasberg-Robinson): This committee met most recently on June 4. The group discussed details from the recent Board retreat, shared status updates from their subcommittees, and looked ahead to their next set of mini goals. We continue to cultivate relationship with our member congregations following the initial outreach. The social media subcommittee planned Instagram and Facebook for the month of June. The posts highlighted Koinonia's summer events. The goal is to continue two Instagram and Facebook posts per week.
Goal 3 - Capital Campaign (Champion – Anthony Geraci): The Capital Campaign is gaining momentum. The Major Gifts and the Current/Alumni Board Teams are continuing to be built by their Chairs. A Major Gifts Team meeting was held on June 1 and our next meeting will be on June 28. Our first Koinonia Next newsletter promoting the campaign was circulated to our audiences on June 20 via mail.
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Fundraising/ Finance Update
The ‘hungry time’ is over! Deposits for summer and fall rentals, Day Camp tuitions, and donations are coming in. Jean is busy taking in reservations and billing. Matt is paying bills and entering information into quick books. Mid July we will assess our expenses and income to see if we can begin thinking about expanding staffing. We have asked our part-time year-round staff to expand their hours to 30-35 hours a week for the summer season. To date we have raised over $75,000!
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Property
The visit by the Department of Health went very well, with only a few items to take care of. Matt and volunteers Art, Danny and Tom have been taking on projects and will work on putting up a railing on the stairs to the beach and replacing the fence in the Conference Center meditation garden. We have allowed a tree cutting company to park its vehicles on the unused side on the camp in exchange for tree trimming around and free mulch. Matt is keeping the lawns mowed and trimmed and removing large snakes to other parts of the camp and away from guests. Matt is planning service projects for groups coming up. The two new sections of the floating bridge are arriving next week, and we hope to get the bridge back in soon after!
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Outreach/Marketing
With assistance from the Social Media Subcommittee, facebook post reach has increased to over 1,000 a post (the fish post really was popular). The local public school sent home posters for the Nature Camp, and the town also helped in promotion. Kathleen was on the radio promoting the Port Jervis swim camp. We continue to work on the website and work on keeping information updated. Please share our posts to expand our reach.
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Worship & Programming
We are close to having the summer season filled with Pastors and Lay leaders to lead worship in the Pines.
Day Camps - June was spent marketing and advertising the Day Camps in Port Jervis and on site. Due to low enrollment for the Port Jervis site, St. Peters and Koinonia decided to close the camp. The staff we had secured for the Port Jervis Day Camp were invited to join the Nature Camp staff at Koinonia.
Lutheran Witness Along the Delaware –
Pastor Mary Button will preach in the Chapel in the Pines on August 14 for community day. Her installation will be on July 31 at St. Peter’s.
Hiring – We have hired 14 staff for the summer, and almost all are working at the Day Camp.
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Visits and Bookings–
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 register@koinoniany.org and start planning your retreat.
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Bonzli is Beat!
I am 12 months old! I finished my 3rd obedience class and I am getting close to taking my Good Citizenship test! I am officially a Therapy Dog in Training, which means I am safe to pet. This week I have gone to Nature camp every day and many children like to touch my fur and talk to me. I go to bible study but have to be tied up or I'll dig things up between the benches. I keep learning!
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A Message from Pastor Richard Hill |
Pastor Richard Hill is the Capital Campaign Congregational Chair:
" We are looking to build a presenter team to visit Congregational Councils to ask if they will support the Campaign"
If you feel called to support the mission and ministry of Koinonia in this way, please email Pastor Hill at: rohill@optonline.net
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We are so blessed to be spreading the light of Christ! May our good news lift your spirits today and bring you hope. Thank you always for your ongoing prayers, support, and light. It is making a difference.
God Bless,
Katie Cunningham Kathleen Ruen
Board President Executive Director
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