Christmas Around Camp Daniel!

Here's a quick tour of Christmas Around Camp Daniel...

As you enter camp, you will see a nativity set that is beautifully illuminated at night.  

The Hartley House & The Piantines

This one lost a few branches & needles.

Even the camp dog gets a stocking!

Papa Tony & Grandma Jo's Place

 

Grandma Jo enjoys Christmas flowers!

The Bury's Place 

Jen's Grandmother's Christmas Village

And the last stop on the tour is The Brunot House....

Betty & Trish made gingerbread houses.

Guess who's stocking...

Thanks for taking our tour. Have a Merry Christmas!

The Able Church Special Olympics & Christmas Fair!

Last weekend, The Able Church Special Olympics team, The Attack, took fourth place at the state tournament in Waukesha. They played four games that day, consisting of three matches each. The Able Attack was one of 28 teams that progressed onto the state level. Nick and Betty of Camp Daniel are serving as the agency managers. Roger, Nick, and Bill were coaches for this year's season.

Special Olympics has been a large part of The Able Church since 2008. Sports offered include volleyball, bowling, basketball and bocce ball.  Practices are held on Tuesday nights at Living Hope Church in Green Bay. It is a part of The Able Church Family Night, which includes eating pizza together, and men and women’s Bible studies.

Special Olympics is the heartbeat and center of the disability community. Being apart of this program helps The Able Church stay connected and current with the issues of the disability community. It also provides The Able Church opportunities to make an impact in the community at large. 

In efforts to support The Able Family Night, thispast Sunday we had our first annual Able Church Christmas Fair held at Living Hope Church. It was a huge success with at great turnout, selling Christmas items, baked goods, popcorn and a chili lunch. Members of The Able Church family made the majority of the items and helped at the fair.

There are plans to expand the items sold for next year and offer more fun activities. We would also like to look for other hosting churches. If you would like The Able Church to host a Christmas fair at your church, please contact Pastor Tim Mandich or Tony Piantine.

Thank you to all those who participated in the Christmas fair and support The Able Church!

Welcome Betty!

This year’s Camp Daniel intern is Betty Miller. She moved into the Brunot House, the girls group home, the beginning of October. She had been living in Green Bay attending UWGB, working towards a degree in Human Development. 

Betty is originally from Whitehall, a teeny tiny little town between Eau Claire and La Crosse. She heard about Camp Daniel through her friend Katie Cohen back in 2006 and decided to volunteer that summer. That summer impacted her greatly and she has volunteered every summer since.

This past summer, she really felt God leading her to do the internship program. So, she decided to take a year off of school and invest the ministry of Camp Daniel. She is expecting this year to strengthen her relationship with God as she learns to depend on him and hear his voice. She is also hoping to gain some clarity with the direction of her life after this year’s program.

Currently, Betty is busy serving in several areas. She plays a big part of The Able Church in Green Bay. She helps with members of The Able Church lead the worship singing time. She also helps with the Special Olympics program and leads the women’s Bible study. At camp, she helps Trish maintain the grounds and helps molly in the office. She is also a leader for a youth group in Crivitz.

One of Betty’s major accomplishments, so far, has been to put on Camp Daniel’s first women’s retreat here on the Camp Daniel grounds. This retreat had 10 campers and 5 counselors. Its theme was called Beautiful Things, with speaker Becky Bazette-Jones and worship leaders, Jill Kocian & Molly McMurry. It was a wonderful and fun time had by all.

We are so glad to have Betty here with us and be a part of our family. We are excited to watch her grow and see where God leads her in her future. Please pray for Betty as she continues to sacrifice and serve within the Camp Daniel and disability community.

The Able Church Christmas Fair!

The Able Church Christmas Fair will be held at Living Hope Church this Sunday from 12-3pm. This Christmas celebration will support The Able Church and its functions. LHC is located at 1840 W. Mason St in Green Bay. Bring your family and friends!!!

Progress of the Grounds and the Barn

This fall led to a lot of progress on the Camp Daniel grounds. Windows and doors where installed in the barn, as well as, the Georgia puppet stage was built. Trim, lights, and a projection screen were also put up.

Outside, the never-ending landscaping projects continued. Green Bay Nursery once again generously donated trees and shrubs for our grounds. This recent donation included over 50 trees and shrubs. Tony and the guys were still planting and transplanting trees after our first snowstorm!

Green Bay Nursery has been a valued donor to Camp Daniel for almost 20 years, since the time the grounds were purchased. Very early on, most of the trees on the grounds needed to be cut down due to a tree disease. Therefore, the gifts from GBN have been extra appreciated. GBN has donated over 500 trees 12-15 feet tall and shrubs over the years. They have also donated many other landscaping items including paving bricks, retaining wall blocks, wheel barrels, and a dump truck, to name a few.

Camp Daniel highly values the relationship with Green Bay Nursery and is highly grateful to the Flagstad family for their generosity. In 2010, they were awarded Camp Daniel’s Ambassador’s Award, the highest award given by Camp Daniel.

Visions of Popcorn Popping in Their Heads

Making popcorn is almost a daily event in the Piantine household. Tony loves popcorn and, for most of his life, has dreamed about having a popcorn business.  Over the years, as the dream remained a dream, it kind of became a joke between friends and family. It was just a fun idea and one of Tony’s many dreams.

Last Christmas, the Piantines thought it would make great Christmas gifts to make and package their own popcorn. They made their own labels and had fun putting together the gifts boxes.  A handful of select friends and family received the Piantine popcorn, slightly satisfying the popcorn dream.

A couple weeks later, the dream began to pop some more. Tony received a phone call from Diane, mother of one of our campers, Drew. She shared that she owned a popcorn business in Green Bay called Heart@Work.  She developed the business as a means to give her son who has Down Syndrome, and other adults with disabilities, purposeful employment.  They would make, package and label several varieties of popcorn, vending to corporate buyers as well as providing popcorn buffets for weddings and banquets.

Much to Tony’s surprise, the owner asked if Camp Daniel would like to partner with business! Wow! Could this be a dream come true?

Tony, Karol, & Trish (our kitchen manager) spent a day making popcorn with Heart@Work, learning all about the business first hand. They excitedly agreed to partner with the business.   The future plan is to produce the popcorn here at camp after our commercial kitchen is built.  We would continue the partnership and the mission of Heart@Work by providing purposeful employment for people with disabilities, as well as providing a means for Camp Daniel to support itself.  This gives us another reason to complete the Camp Daniel grounds and get our kitchen up and running!

Currently, Trish goes weekly to Green Bay, along with other Camp Daniel staff and campers to help with this year’s orders and learn the business. This past Thursday Channel 5 of Green Bay aired a segment on the business! Check out the video clip below!

Looking for the perfect Christmas gift? Give the gift of popcorn! www.heartatworkunlimited.com

Uniquely Wisconsin: Heart @ Work - WeAreGreenBay.com Green Bay Fox Cities News Weather Sports

Women's Retreat

This past weekend, Camp Daniel held its first women’s retreat! The theme was Beautiful Things, with speaker Becky Bazett-Jones and worship leaders Jill Kocian and Molly McMurry.  Camp Daniel’s intern, Betty Miller, fantastically put on this retreat, with the help of other Camp Daniel staff. We had 10 campers and 5 counselors attend. Great size for our first retreat and for closer intimacy. It was an exciting time for our staff as we got to see the barn utilized for a camp function for the first time!

Activities included crafts, games, spa, tea luncheon, fashion show, chapel times, movie night, and bon fire. During the spa, ladies received hand massages, manicures, facials, and a chance to pick out a dress and hat to wear for the lovely tea luncheon. The guys of Camp Daniel served the ladies soup, sandwiches, tea & dessert. Following the lunch, the ladies had a chance to show off their beauty by dancing down a runway to fun music.

The chapel sessions where filled with messages about how God has made us beautiful. This message was vitally important to the ladies who attended since so much of the world tells us we need to look a certain way in order to be beautiful. The majority of gals with disabilities have an extra hard time measuring up to those standards. Being affirmed of and encouraged to find our beauty, inside and out, is a message all women need to hear and even more important within the disability community.  Thank you Becky for your words of truth and encouragement!