I want to begin my post this month with a note from my coworker and friend Andrew, who is the Director of Flight Operations and pilot for LAMP. He posted the following...
I have less experience than Andrew does with these situations and I'm very struck by his observation that this is the worst fire season he's seen in 13 years. This has had and continues to have a huge impact on so many of our LAMP communities. Many have been under threat from nearby fires...many more have had to manage very smoky conditions and very poor air quality. It has also had a huge impact on so many of our LAMP teams and their plans to serve this summer.
My month started in Easterville, Manitoba with the LAMP team from Wisconsin. They worked well together and had a wonderful turnout of kids from the community. I enjoyed spending some time with them and watching them do great work in the community. Here's a few pictures...team leader Debbie with our local contact Michael C and a photo of the team.
I headed from Easterville back to Winnipeg to catch a flight to Waterloo, Ontario. I went to the Lutheran Church - Canada National Youth Gathering hosted at the University of Waterloo. I set up a display table for LAMP and also helped present some sessions at the event for youth leaders and for youth. On Monday morning of the event, some of the youth and leaders met at a local church to complete a service project for LAMP. They helped sort and pack a huge pile of socks that had been donated by local congregations for LAMP to distribute (we also had a chance to help a bit with some quilting...donated quilts are a big hit with many of our LAMP communities). Here's some pictures of the youth gathering, including the servant event. Let me give a shout out to local LAMP volunteer Janine C, who helped me with the exhibit booth, with our LAMP elective presentation, and with the servant event. Janine is good people!!
After the gathering, I flew back to Winnipeg. I had planned to head to Leaf Rapids and visit our LAMP team there. The community of Leaf Rapids was under an evacuation warning which would later turn into an evacuation order due to nearby wildfires. The LAMP team for Leaf Rapids is from Winnipeg and they pivoted, trying to help and support the evacuated residents from Leaf Rapids during their time in Winnipeg. I appreciate their willingness and efforts in this.
I was able to travel to Thompson and Moose Lake, visiting teams in both of those Manitoba communities. Barb and Karen S, long time LAMP volunteers, gathered some local folks together to help them host a VBS in the community of Thompson. It was wonderful to see them in action...and Barb is a real inspiration to me (25 years of serving with LAMP...and still going strong!!) It was also good to connect with the Moose Lake team. They had a tricky week in Moose Lake...several deaths in the community made it impossible for them to use the local church for their program. They showed real grit and heart as they shifted their sessions to a local soccer field in the community. Pictures from Thompson and Moose Lake below...
Following my visit to Moose Lake, I headed back to Winnipeg to meet the team from Michigan that was arriving to come and serve in Grand Rapids, Manitoba. This team was supported by the organization MOST and it was their first visit as an organization to Canada and their first time serving with LAMP. It had been a few years since we had been able to send a team to Grand Rapids so it was great to reconnect with the community and with local leaders like Pastor Steve M and Yvonne from the band office. It was also fun to have LAMP's Executive Director Steve Schave join us for the week. While there were a few bumps and challenges during the first couple of days, the team worked hard, stayed flexible, and served well. Fun times!!
We headed back to Winnipeg on Friday night of that week and had a nice dinner together before the team headed to bed at their hotel to get ready for an early flight home the next day.
My final LAMP trip of the month was a trip to Deschambault Lake, Saskatchewan to visit the LAMP team serving there. This was their second year serving in Deschambault and there were a few minor issues to manage there. One of the team members felt quite ill for the first few days and she was given wonderful care and support at the community health centre. There were a number of activities happening that week for kids and parents in the community so our VBS attendance was quite low. We decided to be thankful for the kids who did show up and have fun with them. We also appreciated the new connections we made with different people in the community. They thanked us for coming and serving...we look forward to returning next year. Again, a few pictures...
One of the most special parts of the month was a visit from my wife Lynne in Winnipeg. She was able to fly in as I returned from Grand Rapids and meet both my boss Steve S and also the MOST team. We spent Friday to Monday together exploring Winnipeg and catching up. We had realized early on that I would be gone for up to seven weeks in a row from home this summer and decided to plan a visit midway through the season. As it turns out, some of the team visits I was planning to do have been cancelled or postponed, so I was also able to fly home for the last few days of July. It's been good to spend these times with Lynne!!
As I'm writing this today, I have just received notice that the community of Cormorant in Manitoba is being evacuated. I was planning to go and visit our LAMP team as they run a VBS in Cormorant next week but I think plans will need to change. I hope they don't have to be gone from home too long and I hope that their homes will be safe. Some of our LAMP friends and contacts have lost their homes to fire this summer and that has been a very hard thing for them.
One question that is emerging during this difficult summer is "how can we support community members who have been evacuated?" As noted earlier, some of our LAMP teams have been trying to reach out and support evacuees who have been relocated to Winnipeg for safety. This might be something we have to think more about as an organization...especially if these forest fires continue like this. Prayers for the evacuees, the communities, the firefighters, and the leaders (local, provincial, national) are definitely needed and would be greatly appreciated.
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