SCRAPS, STEWARDSHIP AND A NEW BLUE BOX AT FOOTHILLS CAMP

Lynn McDowell, JD, CSPG Director of Planned Giving | Philanthropy Alberta Conference (403) 342-5044, ext. 233

Turning scraps into something useful is part of our Adventist DNA. Here's a recycling project that can benefit us all.

If you, your parents, or grandparents grew up during World War II, you know that “recycling programs” have been a necessary part of prairie life for generations. Ingenuity often showed itself on Alberta farms as mothers turned window curtains into dresses for themselves first, then skirts for their little girls, then doll clothes, then wash rags. Men modified motor cars into “Bennet Buggies” drawn by horses because the car couldn’t be fixed or gas couldn’t be purchased, and families still got where they needed to go. I’m sure many a sermon was based on the feeding of the 5,000 and Jesus’ instruction to gather up the scraps “so that nothing be wasted.”

Recycling — gathering up and using scraps — is a really old, biblical concept that’s integral to Alberta Adventist culture. We’re more affluent now than during the World War II era, but it would be rare to find a person under the age of 30 who doesn’t throw his or her trash into the appropriate recycling bin if the option is available. Whether the motivation is thrift or concern for the environment, our responsibility as stewards for what’s in our hand (or more to the point, what’s about to be thrown into our trash bins) seems to have made a deep impression across the generations.

That’s a relief! And more than that, it’s encouraging. The fact that we want to use blue boxes to recycle today’s trash into tomorrow’s useful implement is evidence that Alberta Adventists of all ages understand everyday, practical stewardship. We can all agree that saving money and material resources is the right thing to do, especially when it comes to our common assets, like Foothills Camp.

Recycling Metal On-site: A Three-way Saving

Even though stewardship isn’t part of my job description, it’s part of my Adventist DNA, so I got excited about the Executive Committee’s approval of Troy McQueen’s proposed pole shed structure for heavy equipment and supplies, which uses the metal roofing replaced last summer by insurance for hail damage done in 2015.

Recycling all that metal on-site? How ecologically responsible is that! However, when I saw how much money will be saved by building this way and, in the future, on machinery and maintenance by investing $40,000 now. Well, that was the icing on the cake.

Ingenuity in Recycling

When Troy became camp director last year, he observed that all of the equipment necessary to run the camp—from tractors to buses—had never been sheltered from the elements. There was no place but the great outdoors to do maintenance on them either. However, there was a lot of metal on-site—enough to construct a building. So, Troy and Conference Treasurer Keith Richter did the math to confirm that they could substantially reduce the cost of a machine shop and shelter by turning the salvageable roof metal into walls and a new roof. Not only that, but they would also reduce maintenance costs and extend the life of existing machinery 15-20 years.

Ensuring Future Summer Camps and Camp Meetings

Everyday stewardship is alive and well in Alberta. We want Foothills Camp to continue to serve an ever-growing number of young and old Adventists in our province. Let’s start planning now to contribute to the many Pathfinder weekends, summer camps, retreats, and camp meetings of the future through the 2020 Blue Box Machine Shop offering at Foothills Camp Meeting on July 25. This is one recycling project that can truly benefit our entire community and the next generation!