Wrangle and Ride is Full!

The Wrangle & Ride day scheduled for Saturday, Nov 3 is FULL with a waiting list. Additional programs are planned for the spring. After the first of the year, watch Weekly Connection and the DuBois Center Facebook page for updates. Can’t wait? Wrangle up some friends and schedule a ride or a half or full-day event for a group of six or more. Contact DuBois Center at 618-787-2202 or dcinfo@DuBoisCenter.org.

Plan a Retreat at DuBois Center

Is your church or fellowship group looking for ways to breathe new energy into your membership? Is your congregation about to enter a time of visioning? Is adding depth a priority for your men’s, women’s or family ministries? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then we hope you will consider a spirit-filled retreat or family camp at DuBois Center! It is amazing what a difference a weekend or even 24 hours away can make. Now is the time to start planning for Spring and next Fall! Groups as small as 8 and as large as 90 can easily be accommodated. A number of churches already “retreat” to DuBois Center. We host family camps, women’s retreats, youth weekends and confirmation events for local congregations. These events can be key components of your year-round faith formation and fellowship programs. If you are interested, but don’t know where to begin – we can help. Check out this brochure, then for more information or to just explore the possibilities, contact Shirley at dcinfo@DuBoisCenter.org or 618-787-2202.

Fall Work Day – Nov. 3

Stretch your muscles! Breathe fresh fall air! Hang out with friends and lend a helping hand! Youth groups, families, individuals, and adult fellowships- everyone is invited to our annual fall work day. Projects vary, depending on the skills of those involved and the weather. Preparations for winter, stacking wood, raking leaves, cleaning and painting are on the list, as are a variety of skilled labor projects. The work may not be glamorous, but it really does make a BIG DIFFERENCE!

Click here for a flyer to post and share and here for a typical Work Day schedule. Please let us know in advance if you plan to attend and if any of your group members have special skills. We want to be sure to have appropriate projects and a hot lunch ready for you! Contact DuBois Center at 618-787-2202 or dcinfo@DuBoisCenter.org.

Mother-Daughter Retreat

What a difference a week can make! The temperatures fell from near record highs for Fall Festival to 30 degrees cooler for our Mother-Daughter Retreat. It may have been chilly, but weather did not deter the generations of women who played, prayed, laughed, sang, used their creative juices, rode horses, shot arrows, tried new yoga poses, snapped photos and even canoed together!

The 2018 Mother-Daughter Retreat is now history, but the memories most certainly are not. Here are just some of the highlights noted on the end-of-event evaluations:
● Fellowship with other mothers and daughters
● Canoeing, the 1:1 time in God’s beautiful nature was a memory of a lifetime
● Every moment was special – snuggling & being together
● The photo scavenger hunt
● Coffee on the porch in the morning
● Snuggling under a blanket on the hayride
● Fun weekend away from life where we can spend quality time together

Start planning NOW for 2019. DuBois Center sponsors three great family retreats: Father-Son in the spring, Rainbow Camp in August and Mother-Daughter in October.

Fall Work Day – November 3

Stretch your muscles! Breathe fresh fall air! Hang out with friends and lend a helping hand! Youth and adult fellowship groups, families, individuals – everyone is invited to our annual fall work day. Projects vary, depending on the skills of those involved and the weather. Preparations for winter, stacking wood, raking leaves, cleaning and painting are on the list, as are a variety of skilled labor projects. The work may not be glamorous, but it really does make a BIG DIFFERENCE! Click here for a flyer to post and share and here for a typical Work Day schedule.

Please let us know in advance if you plan to attend and if any of your group members have special skills. We want to be sure to have appropriate projects and a hot lunch ready for you! Contact DuBois Center at dcinfo@DuBoisCenter.org or 618-787-2202.

Fall Festival Thank You

We just want to say “thanks” to the volunteers, staff, vendors and guests who helped make Fall Festival 2018 such a success!

Watch our blog and upcoming editions of the Weekly Connection e-newsletter (sign up below if you haven’t already) to hear some of the fun stories from this event.

fall fest collage

Annual Meeting Worship Offering – DuBois Center Scholarship Fund

In order for your church to prepare for the worship offering at Annual Meeting, we felt an explanation would be helpful. One of this year’s offerings will go to the DuBois Center Scholarship fund, which is used for children of families who cannot afford to attend camp through their own budgets.
Shirley speaks about it…
If we truly believe that children and youth need open space to laugh, sing, play and pray together; that meaningful connections with positive Christian role models make a real difference; that learning to respect and care for ourselves and our “neighbors” is a critical skill; and that faith grows as we learn, explore and ask tough questions, then a week at camp can be life-changing and no one should be turned away for an inability to pay.
Finances are one of the challenges being faced by most, if not all, not-for-profit camps. Experts urge organizations to charge what it actually costs to operate a program or a facility including ongoing maintenance, and then provide scholarships for those with financial needs. Groups that have not done this have faced dire consequences. You can look across the country for examples or right here in southern Illinois. Fees that cover direct costs and scholarships for those in need are critical pieces of the equation.
The Sweet Shoppe at Fall Festival raises $1,200 – $1,500 annually for scholarships. In addition, DuBois Center receives about $2,000 each year in gifts designated specifically for scholarships. Beyond that, the Center’s budget underwrites an additional $15,000 – $18,000 of camper and retreat fees for families with significant financial struggles.
DuBois Center participates in a Title XX (financial assistance) program through the American Camp Association. This program provides some reimbursement (approximately 25-30%) of a typical camper fee, and – more importantly – a way to spread the camp experience to children beyond our churches. Information on this program is sent to foster parents, families eligible for free and reduced meals at school, and those with crippling medical bills. Some of the campers utilizing this program come from UCC churches and programs, many do not. This is one way DuBois Center provides outreach on behalf of our local congregations to the wider community.

This year’s Annual Meeting worship offering will be used to build the scholarship fund which will be used to underwrite the 70-75% of camper fees not covered by Title XX reimbursement, and in doing so, reduce our annual deficit, and provide for continued outreach.

Women on Retreat

The women of Friedens UCC in Troy are definitely not strangers to DuBois Center. They’ve donated kid-sized boots for the barn and dollars for new mattresses in the rustic cabins and main camp cottages. They’ve served meals during Fall Festival and played a huge role in the remodeling of Hickory Lodge – raising funds and providing labor.

BUT, at least in recent history, they had not been on retreat at DuBois Center. They hadn’t slept in the new beds, sunk into the comfy new sofas, or savored the updated décor – until now.

This past weekend, 15 women from Friedens experienced the joy of being on retreat together. They played and prayed; they laughed, ate and sang together. They enjoyed the weather, the food, the hayride and each other’s company.

Stephanie Williams, Christian Education Director, and her team put together a wonderful program and were the guides for the weekend. If you are interested in creating a retreat for a group in your church or community, please contact DuBois Center at dcinfo@DuBoisCenter.org or 618-787-2202.

There’s Still Time to Buy Your Quilt Tickets

Fall Festival is THIS SUNDAY, October 7, and there is still time to buy 1 quilt ticket or 20! Check out this flyer with photos and print your own tickets. NOTE: All completed quilt tickets with payments must be received in the DuBois Center office by 2:00 pm on Sunday to be eligible for the drawing. Mail them today with a check or deliver them in person. A special THANKS to everyone who has been selling tickets at church and around the community, and to everyone who has purchased them.