MANNA IN THE WILDERNESS
When the ancient Hebrew people fled from Egypt, they were faced with a real need for daily sustenance in the desert. The manna sent from God was intended to be used right away and helped them survive until they could thrive once again.
Today, you have an opportunity to provide manna of sorts for your beloved camp and retreat ministry. We hope you will prayerfully consider stepping up to become involved with our Manna in the Wilderness Campaign as a pathways volunteer!
THE NEED
2020 was looking to be a great year for Sky Lake. Then Covid-19 hit and we adapted. Even though the ministry has continued in new and exciting ways this year, there’s no getting around the fact that 2020 has been financially challenging for Sky Lake.
This summer, we joined with our sibling sites of Upper New York Camp & Retreat Ministries to launch the Manna in the Wilderness Campaign. We set an audacious goal of raising $100,000 for Sky Lake. Hitting our goal won’t solve the problem entirely, but it will help us get to 2021 a little less worried.
Thanks to the generosity of over 192 individuals, families, staff, and churches, along with camper families who converted their registration fees, we are almost at $58,000 in donations toward our Manna in the Wilderness goal! This is in addition to the $16,000 in regular giving from generous members of our Sustainable Forest of Giving and gifts to the Annual Fund.
PATHWAYS VOLUNTEERS
The majority of people who count themselves as Sky Lake campers, guests, or alumni do so because someone they knew invited them to become involved. In many ways, our Manna Pathways Network seeks to replicate this. People respond better to a personal invitation rather than a general social media post or a letter or phone call from someone they may not really know all that well. Your role as a volunteer is to help facilitate the connection—there are likely people in your life who would donate to Sky Lake if they receive a personal invite!
BECOMING A PATHWAYS VOLUNTEER IS EASY
Step 1—Select your level:
- Trail Explorer—willing to raise $1,000
- Trail Guide—willing to raise $2,500
- Trail Blazer—willing to raise $5,000
Step 2—Let us know:
- Send a note to our Volunteer Director of Development, Eric Yetter, to confirm your participation. Be sure to include your mailing address
Step 3—Personally donate to the Manna in the Wilderness Campaign:
- Give online at skylake.campbraingiving.com or mail a check made out to “UNYAC-Sky Lake” to Sky Lake, 501 William Law Rd, Windsor NY 13865
- Our online donation system has a $10 minimum donation, but other than that we only expect volunteers to give what they can (gifts to Sky Lake have ranged from $1 to $6,500 this year)
Step 4—Make personal contact with your choice of people
- We’ll provide each volunteer with a packet of at least fifteen “Manna in the Wilderness” postcards along with recommended wording for volunteers to use on the postcard. Volunteers are asked to procure the stamps for mailing postcards to individuals
- Contact camp & retreat friends, family members, church members, organization members, etc. by sending a postcard, an email, a text message, or making a phone call, or… all of the above
- Invite the donors you recruit to mention your name in the “notes” field
Step 5—Stay involved
- As long as donors mention your name when donating, we’ll be able to track total donations for you and will provide reports regularly
- Like and share Sky Lake’s social media posts on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter
- Tune in to our virtual mini hikes and Sunday Campfires on Facebook
WANT TO GET STARTED BEFORE YOUR POSTCARD PACKET ARRIVES?
- Click here for a PDF of the Pathways Volunteer Info Sheet
- Click here for a PDF of the Pathways Sample Contact Sheet
- Click here for sample text that you can copy & paste into a text message or tweet
Thank you for helping to sustain Sky Lake in 2020 and building 2021 up to be a fruitful year!
