JR high youth --  june 12-16
SR high youth -- june 12-19

WHO:     youth in this year’s 6^th thru 12^th grade are invited to participate!  JR high youth (those who have just completed 6^th, 7^th and 8^th grades) will return on june 16; SR high youth (those who have completed 9^th through 12^th grades) will return on june 19.   counselors will include staff:  andy thomas, lee ann boykin, mike & shelley keeley, interns: sam woods & leslee griggers and several parents.

WHAT:    we will sing in several locations in atlanta:  we will sing at a  unique ministry to homeless women, children and men there on saturday night and will sing on sunday morning before driving to asheville.   we will get to sing at the church that housed us last year on tuesday night too. those who are not singing will be helping with luggage, equipment, and whatever jobs are needed — BUT there is an opportunity for you to still come and practice — including sunday afternoons at 4 pm and rehearsals the week before the trip on tuesday and wednesday from 12:30 to 1:30 — following lunch that will be provided for you — so you can still sing if you want to!).  we will also do home repair missions (minor construction, roofing, painting, yard work, clean up, digging field lines, etc) through recreation experiences in asheville, n.c.  this is a great missions company what we have worked with for years!  the staff they hire is educated and very safety conscious and will include two of our youth alumni this summer (walton delavan and sarah catherine purvis!)  youth will be on two worksites with people from our group and our adults.  our adults work hard to make sure that youth learn how to do things at the site and help them whenever needed.  there are jobs for people who do not want to climb ladders and jobs for those who do!  there is often poison ivy in the area, so find out if you are very allergic before we go and we’ll make sure you stay away from it.   check out their website if you’d like to see what they do and how they select clients, etc:  www.recreationexperiences.com.  

WHERE?   we will stay on the floor in a church in atlanta and asheville.  recreation has mattresses for us to sleep on in asheville, but no bunks, so some people bring blow up mattresses.   we have arrangements with the local university to take showers in their gym. 

HOW DO WE GET THERE?   saturday, at 1:00 p.m. [yes ACT people will be able to go on the trip!].  we will take a southern coaches bus to atlanta, and then on to asheville on sunday. [we will also have a “late bus” because some youth can not go on saturday.  we will leave on sunday morning at 7:15 a.m.  lee ann boykin will be driving our church bus that day.

HOW DO WE PAY FOR IT?   first, our pumpkin patch proceeds, youth missions budgeted money, and youth choir budgeted money goes into the pot.  then SR high  pay $265, JR high pay $200 (if you can), if you can’t – or can’t right now – a parent can contact lee ann and we’ll put money  in the pot for you from our scholarship account (you can say “thank you” and be done, or your family can pay the scholarship account back when you can, or you can make payments as you are able).  we stir all that together and pray a lot and then we write a check to recreation, to our church for mileage on the bus (.80 per mile), to southern coaches, to the places where we’ll eat and park on wednesday, and we’ll give each of you a $7 to eat with on the way home.  recreation charges us $335 per SR high person, $270 for JR high, and that includes lodging, food, the t-shirt, and most importantly the materials we need and the expert staff to make the projects happen.    

SEE FORM

if you have questions, feel free to call andy, shelley, lee ann or mike.  we hope you can come because working for others is one of the best ways we know to do work on your own soul!