Epworth Retreat/Camp
6 June 2014The idea of camps/retreats/overnight get-togethers came from watching single parents at day events and noticing how they were too busy playing 'with' and caring 'for' their children to invest time into building friendships with other adults to create a supportive network. At the end of the day, single parents returned home to isolation as they are the only adult in their homes. Our early camps were at family holiday parks and at first only families with 1 or 2 children and earning a decent wage/salary could attend. They made the most of the opportunity for family quality time and a break from work yet they still isolated to a degree because opportunity to do things divided them. We fund-raised for sports equipment so families who could not afford to visit tourist attractions or activities like horse riding felt they too were investing in quality time and equally had fun. Next to come was the idea we could fund-raise to take larger families and add daily activities with a cost. The families responded favorably and from here on, we grew and grew and grew. A fabulous core group developed which enabled great teamwork and new members simply adapted to its supportive culture and identity (ways of doing things). In turn, these camps/retreats/overnight get-togethers are very powerful, life changing tools while single parents say, "We are creating long lasting memories for our children". For our Labour weekend camp, we are hoping to fundraise enough $$ to cover the children's camp fees plus two activities being Kayaking and the Waitomo Caves.