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Work day scheduled May 8
As camp season rapidly approaches, the time has arrived to mend, sweep, weed and clean Grace Point, the diocesan camp and retreat center.
A diocesan work day is scheduled for Saturday, May 8, beginning at 8 a.m., during which volunteers, families and friends will come together as stewards to prepare the camp for the coming season. Workers will meet at the Commons Building (the large gray building) and be guided to specific tasks.
As Vicar Bo Lewis, camp director, noted, “This is an opportunity to offer your God-given skills at window washing, ‘fixing,’ outdoor maintenance, pruning and painting.”
Participants may come only for the morning, only for the afternoon, or may plan to work all day — there’re plenty of tasks to go around! Please bring work gloves, your favorite rake, shears, pruners and other basic gardening tools. Also bring a lunch and/or dinner; the camp will provide drinks.
For those who haven’t had the chance to witness the beauty of Grace Point, an early May day spent outdoors is truly an immersion in East Tennessee spring — and an opportunity to be transformed by the beauty and grace of your diocesan camp and retreat center.
Please plan to participate in this opportunity to sustain the retreat center’s mission of preparing generations “to share the love of Christ in all the world.”
We’ll see you there on May 8!
FIRE!!
By the Rev. Hugh Jones
Grace Point Board of Managers
A fire swept onto the property of Grace Point
on the afternoon of Monday, March 1. However, nothing was damaged other
than brush on roughly 40 or so acres.
The fire broke out somewhere near the homes that are on the back corner of the property, near the pond. Unfortunately, it was a windy day, and the flames swept up the hill.
The son of the caretaker and his family live in a house in the area, which could easily have been lost; they just happened to be home, and they fought flames up to their front door.
Four fire departments and the state Dept. of Forestry were on the scene quickly. Bulldozers cut fire lanes, and backfires were set.
“They were pretty doggone efficient,” said Vicar Bo Lewis.
Before the fire was brought under control, it moved along the top of the ridge in the direction of the Retreat House. The shifting wind driving the flames made for an unpredictable and frightening time for Lewis.
“Fire’s been a fear of mine ever since we got the property,” he said.
The smoke initially was so heavy it was impossible to tell exactly where the flames were advancing. When the fire was stopped, it was on the lake side of the ridge over many acres and roughly at a point that is a straight walk up from Sunbeam House, the residence of Bo and Jan Lewis. Though the house never really was in danger, the vicar wisely had people hosing it down just in case.
The fire departments kept trucks at the Retreat House and Sunbeam House and for a while at the Commons Building — as well as a tanker by the lake — in case they were needed.
The Lewises walked the trails through the damaged areas during the next night to make sure nothing flared back up. The land will recover fully, and the fire will have done it good.
Kudos to everyone involved!
Plans are under way to host firefighters and forestry department personnel and their families for a picnic at Grace Point.
Appalachian
youth to attend summer camp
By Marita Pratt
Appalachian Ministry Resource Team
Members of the Appalachian Ministry Resource Team were overjoyed as they saw their work being blessed by God through the gifts of the delegates to the 20th Annual Convention of the Diocese of East Tennessee.
“Witnessing the outpouring of generosity during the Saturday morning of convention was electrifying,” said Carolyn Dicer, recently retired Bishop’s Deputy for Program for the Diocese of East Tennessee. As of the end of March, the diocese had received $5,085 to fund an ongoing summer camp for Appalachian children. The cost to send one child is about $75.
The camp idea grew out of two exchanges: This past summer, a group of children from Good Shepherd, Lookout Mountain, under the direction of Carolyn Doster, went to Egan, Tenn., to engage in an art camp with the children of that area. In the fall, the Egan children went to Chattanooga to experience with their friends at Good Shepherd, Lookout Moun-tain, the city and the church in a project known as “Mountain to Mountain.”
Carolyn Doster spoke with Vicar Bo Lewis about giving the children a camp experience at Grace Point, and three days were set aside: July 27-29. Harry and Patty Chase and Carolyn Doster will work with Lewis and the staff at Grace Point to develop the camp program. Tonia Brookman at the Woodland Community Land Trust in Roses Creek, Tenn., will be consulted in the recruitment of 30 children, ages 7 - 16, and their adult counselors. Kathy Cramer and her youth group at St. Francis, Norris, will develop day camps to prepare the Egan children.
The Appalachian Ministry Resource Team asks for prayer for Appalachian Kids at Grace Point Camp 2004. The needs are still great: Transportation, bathing suits, towels, water shoes, tennis shoes, socks and toiletries are needed.
We anticipate miracles as we are already thankful for the miracle of so many sponsorship gifts.
Thank you for the miracle!
For more information, contact Marita Pratt, 865-463-6010.
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