Making a Difference – East Gippsland MAD Camp

MAD Camps are all about Making A Difference in local communities and families. We ran three days of day camping at Camp Coolamatong over the school holidays. Kids from local schools, churches, and the community were invited to enjoy many of the usual camp activities, as well as work on different projects to encourage those from our local town.

The kids made crafts, wrote cards, and potted plants, which we gave out to those working in local shops in Paynesville to brighten people’s day. We did clean-up projects, and helped kids think about how they can use their skills and talents to impact others and ways they can make a difference in their school and their family.

It was great seeing kids impacted by camp. One boy was very shy, he didn’t connect well with other kids and was on the outer at school. On this camp he really got involved in all the activities, and by the end of it a number of the kids had intentionally befriended him and joined him in their activities.

East Gippsland MAD Camp developed from a need that we saw in our local community. We spoke with some of the families at the local school, who told us they wished there were more activities for kids to do that were outdoors and positive. After speaking with Coola chaplain Digger, we loved the idea of getting kids to think about making a difference in their community and combining that with lots of fun camp activities. Jesus calls us to make a Kingdom difference in our community, and MAD Camp is one way that we can do this with the leaders, kids, and their families.

Now we’re thinking about ways to expand, and to inspire and train up younger leaders to do more of this kind of thing in the future. Our hope is that it's not just a one-off camp but actually something that can be ongoing.

— Jamison, MAD Day Camp Director