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Currents
Ministry highlights of
Sugar Creek Bible Camp
March 2021 Volume 2, Issue III
Spring is coming and so are
Spring Family Getaway Camps!

Read all about our spring retreats, summer programs, and more
in this edition of Currents!
Spring into Family Fun!
Family Getaway Camps
March 26-28 and April 23-25, 2021

Looking for a weekend family escape? Get-away to Sugar Creek for one of our Spring Family Camps!

Our dynamic staff hosts your family with crafts, hiking, interactive campfires, horseback rides (pony rides for 7 and under), and more! Grow your faith in an uplifting, Christian community with campfire worships at night and Bible study during the day.

Put your mind at ease knowing that, as a member of the American Camp Association, we at Sugar Creek hold ourselves to the highest standards in cleaning and safety.
But don't just take our word for it, read what some of our 2020 Family Campers had to say when asked: “What was your favorite part about your time spent at Sugar Creek?”

Families responded with answers such as:
  • “Bonding with friends and family!
  • “The beautiful scenery!
  • “Feeling safe and cared for by the Sugar Creek staff!

When asked what they thought about the Sugar Creek counselors and staff, family campers said our staff were:

  • “amazing”
  • “safety conscious”
  • "energetic”
  • “hardworking”
  • “dedicated and attentive!”

Join us this March or April and enjoy the beautiful, Springtime splendor of the Sugar Creek Valley with your family and friends.

Click on the button below for additional details and registration information.
In Your Own Words...
Thank you, Sugar Creek Bible Camp!

Family Camp 2020 was such a pleasure that our grandchildren asked to return in the same summer. And they invited the grandparents! And we had a great time!

We found spiritual depth, worship joy, lots of activities with great variety, and all the re-creation we wanted. We also found clear COVID safety protocols, explained well, modeled well, and followed by all. It was Christian community and family fun all rolled into one. 
 
With appreciation,
~Pastor Jim Arends
Pastor Jim Arends
Former Bishop of the La Crosse Area Synod
Virtual Annual Meeting - Feb 21
Our pre-Covid Annual Meetings were well-attended and held in person, as shown in this photo. This year we were blessed with a well-attended virtual meeting!
Thank you to all of the congregational delegates and pastors who spent Sunday afternoon attending our Annual Meeting via a live Zoom webinar.

39 congregations were represented by 60 delegates and 14 Board Members. 5 staff members also participated virtually.

Follow the link below to read our Annual Report, additional details, or to view a recorded version of the meeting.
Sugar Creek Bible Camp
Board of Directors
We are grateful for the dedication of our Board who met via ZOOM for much of their 2020 term!

Sugar Creek Bible Camp is governed by a Board of Directors consisting of 15 members who meet 8-10 times each year.

Board members dedicate their time and resources to providing insight and leadership for the ministry of Sugar Creek Bible Camp.
2021 Board of Directors

Suzanne Bartels - Boscobel
Jen Bjorklund - Westby
Pastor Harald Bringsjord - La Crosse
Diane Colburn - Viroqua
Ellie Davis - Madison
Michael Douglass - Prairie du Chien
Bryce Griffin - Viroqua
Pastor Lori Kleppe - DeSoto
Marilyn Kile - Viroqua
Pastor Steve Meyer - Caledonia, MN
Pastor Nile Sandeen - Mt Sterling
Tony Scholze - Sparta
Carla Stanton - Onalaska
Pastor John Twiton - Mt. Horeb
Tim Zauche - Platteville
Summer Staff...
the job of a lifetime!
Do you, or does someone you know, want to spend a Summer in a tight-knit Christian community? Come work at Sugar Creek Bible Camp and serve as a role model to hundreds of youth this Summer, bringing them the Gospel message of hope and love!

Working at Sugar Creek will help you grow in leadership, self-confidence, and faith, all while creating memories and friendships that last a lifetime. We offer a variety of positions to match your unique gifts for ministry. Don’t miss out on this chance to provide life-changing and faith-building experiences to our campers this Summer.

Applications now open!
IN THE WILD
As the deer panteth for the water, So my soul longeth after Thee. You alone are my heart's desire, And I long to worship Thee”
Window to the Woods

Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sugar Creek staff have been able to make new friends. In the past month we have been greeted nearly every morning and evening by the same group of deer outside our office.

We now almost expect to see them peacefully resting and eating along the hillside every time we look out our windows.

Their presence has served as a steady reminder of how God provides, even during the bitter cold of the last few weeks.
Blessed to be a Blessing
Sustained Giving
Sugar Creek Monthly Supporters

Greetings to you from the Sugar Creek Board of Directors. I’d like to take a moment of your time to introduce myself and to speak with you about Sugar Creek Bible Camp’s Pioneer Club and the concept of sustained giving.

My name is Michael Douglass and I have served on the Sugar Creek Board of Directors since February of 2017. With the election of the new Board at the Annual Meeting in 2019, I was elected Board President and continue to serve in that role. It is on behalf of the Board that I am writing to you today.

In 1966, The Sugar Creek Board of Directors established the Pioneer Club to create a group of people dedicated to ensuring a strong camping ministry would continue at Sugar Creek. One of the primary goals of the Pioneer Club was to provide a base of support such that Summer Campers would only be charged 60% of the actual cost of a week of camp. To become a Pioneer Member, one donates a minimum of $100 a year. There are also giving levels above the minimum.

Many of our original Pioneer Club members, who supported this camp regularly for years, are no longer with us. We are looking for new people willing to take up the cause as regular supporters of this outdoor ministry.

Sustained giving is the donation of money on a recurring basis over an extended period. Within the world of non-profit fund raising, it is hardly a new idea – but it may very well be an idea whose time has come for Sugar Creek. I became a sustainer for Public Radio, years ago. Each month I have a modest sum charged to my credit card where it gets folded into other purchases and paid when I pay my credit card bill. It simply becomes part of my monthly budget to the extent that I hardly notice it.

For me it is vastly easier to make a modest gift monthly than to make a more significant gift once a year. Even a gift as small as $10.00 a month would more than qualify a donor to become a member of the Sugar Creek Bible Camp Pioneer Club. A gift of $25.00 a month would be $300.00 a year – a significant contribution.
Sugar Creek has created a Sustaining Giver dropdown menu on our website wherein you can create your own account, set up a recurring donation, and access your account at your convenience. For this year you would select the Campaign: 2021 Annual Gifts and the Purpose: Pioneers.

Imagine if we built our own Sugar Creek Sustainer Club and drew a thousand members across our more than 100 member congregations (that would be just 10 people per congregation!) That number could easily translate to several hundred thousand dollars in camp support every year! Truly, there is strength in numbers.
This kind of sustained support can provide for ongoing expenses the Camp will always have: it can help keep roofs on buildings, vehicles on the road, horses in the pasture. And perhaps most important from my perspective, it can help keep camp fees affordable.

We know that the summer Bible camp experience has a profound impact on faith formation within our youth. Our collective Lutheran Outdoor Ministries play a critical role not only in the lives of our children today – but in the health and vigor of our Lutheran Church for years and decades to come. Financially supporting Sugar Creek is truly an investment in the future. I am challenging the members of our Sugar Creek Board of Directors to join me in becoming Sustaining Givers. Won’t you join us too?

A Fellow Servant,

Michael Douglass
Board of Directors President

This article originally appeared in our Spring 2019 Currents Publication. A revised version appears here with Michael's permission.
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Announcing a new, 3X Triple Gift
Matching Donation!
An anonymous donor has graciously offered to “Triple Match” new monthly Sustaining Giver (Pioneer Club) donations to Sugar Creek, up to a total of $10,000, if you make your first monthly Sustaining Giver donation before May 31! (Give $25, they match with $75 more!)
 
Already give monthly? If you increase your current monthly gift by any amount, this donor will TRIPLE-MATCH your full new amount the first month!

A BIG thank you to our anonymous donor and to everyone helping to sustain the mission and ministries of Sugar Creek Bible Camp! 
Register for camp by MARCH 15 and receive a free 2021 Summer Camp T-shirt!
Grateful! Thankful! Blessed!
Memorials and Honorariums...
are one of many ways to support Sugar Creek. Thank you to all of you who remembered or honored friends and loved ones with a gift to this Bible Camp ministry.

Donors and Sustaining Givers...
Sugar Creek Bible Camp is blessed to have monthly supporters, known as Sustaining Givers, as well as regular Congregational Supporters (benevolence) and Individual Donors.

These gifts were received from January 20 to February 22, 2021.
Donations received after February 22 will be recognized in our next newsletter.
In Honor of Given by

Bishop Jim Arends Coon Valley Lutheran Church
Bishop Jim Arends Pete Bemis
Lori Taylor's Birthday Lyn & Michael Gerdis
Lori Taylor's Birthday Lori & Randall Taylor & friends
Pastor Luther Larson Trinity Lutheran Church - Sparta
Judy Schure Trinity Lutheran Church - Sparta


In Memory of Given by

Ardys Bakkesstuen Linda Thies
Regan Biege Rand & Cheryl Kuenzi
Todd Durian Apple Tree Credit Union
Todd Durian Gigi & Chuck San Agustin
Todd Durian Ron Durian
Todd Durian Roger & Laura Griffith
Todd Durian Pam Gruesser
Todd Durian Beth Hohl
Todd Durian Dawn & Michael Juarez
Todd Durian Tim & Paula Trokon
Dorothy Every Mr & Mrs John Alibrandi
Dorothy Every Adrian & Doris Hagen
Dorothy Every Bob & Diana Kachel
Dorothy Every Donna Roe
Dorothy Every Dave & Cherie Rohde
Dorothy Every Winn Solberg
Almon Fortney Rand & Cheryl Kuenzi
Terri Grazt Gladys Lee
Jim Heinecke Roger & Lori Beckstrom
Fern Kleppe Freeman Lutheran Church Men's Assoc.
Beverly McClellan Loren & Gloria Bryhn
Beverly McClellan Sonja Moe
Marion Newcomb Rand & Cheryl Kuenzi
Virginia Nerison Gladys Lee
Marilyn Olson Dorothy Gartner
Marilyn Olson John & Paulette Gleason
Marilyn Olson Ed & Ruth Scholze
Ray Pearson Brad & Gail Quarberg
Jason Poser Bob & Sally Severson
Bill Rounds Bob & Sally Severson
Chris Rounds Bob & Sally Severson
Terry Rounds Bob & Sally Severson
Deane Thomas Olin & Arlette Knudsen

Congregational Donors

Barneveld Lutheran Church
Evangelical Lutheran Church - Mt. Horeb
Grace Lutheran Church - Darlington
Grace Lutheran Church - Dodgeville
Grace Lutheran Church - Elroy
Our Savior's Lutheran Church - West Salem
SW Prairie Lutheran Church - Viroqua
St. John's Lutheran Church - Boscobel
St. Peter Evangelical Lutheran Church - PdC
Vermont Lutheran Church - Black Earth


W-ELCA Donors

Our Savior's Lutheran Church - Boscobel
St. John's Lutheran Church - Alma
Sustaining (monthly) Givers

Peter & Joan Allen
Pastor Jim & Lynn Arends
Kevin & Betty Baird
Kjell Bakken
Elizabeth Davis
Michael Douglass II
Bryce & Katie Griffin
Meredith Hink
Shirley Hummel
Samantha Johnson
Kyle Jaeger & Laura Mackey
Daniel Kirschbaum & Jonathan Tippetts
Gregg & Pastor Lori Kleppe
Kyle Jaeger & Laura Mackey
Pastor Steve & Stacey Meyer
Kate Moody
Charles & Tiana Montgomery
Roxann Nedrelo
Alice Olson
John & Nancy Solberg
Pastor Jason & Carla Stanton
Lavonne Swiggum
Pastor Eric & Megan Thiele



Individual Donors

Roger & Lori Beckstrom
La Verne Bjerke
Ed & Diane Eisermann
Donna Erickson
Joan Everson
Kenneth & Marcy Firl
Kiera Grant
Charles Gustafson
Seth Hecox
Char Herold
Lewis Knutson
Gladys Lee
Steven & Lori Nestingen
Pastor Allan & Kathy Oman
George Pierce
Kristi & Stuart Rex
Matt Rude
Roger & Cheryl Schlesser
Elijah Sorenson
Jake & Pastor Anna Sorenson
John & Margaret Stake
Bob Standorf
Doug & Kari Strandell
Larry & Linda Svanda
Paul & Delores Swedlund
Mabelle Turner
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Did you miss last month's edition?
Click the link below to check out our February Currents Enews!