In This Month's Newsletter: 1)Upcoming Events 2)Camping and Clubs 3)Leaders 4)Prayers and Special Needs   Note from the Area Director:   Honestly, I don't mind if you skip this little blurb and check out the good stuff below.  If you're wondering though about this new fancy-dancy email you're receiving from Young Life, I'd love to explain a little.  Basically, we really want to communicate with parents, supporters, kids, alumni and anyone else with an interest in YL as effectively and efficiently as possible.  Let's face it, email is here to stay.  It can be great and it can be, well, not so great.  I hope that as we use it in communication with you that you'll agree that it's helpful where YL is concerned.  We're working out the kinks, creating the email list and determining the format still, so thanks for bearing with us a little.  We're not even sure how often we want to shoot for sending these little e-newsletters out.  Of course, if you prefer not to receive email, the program we use makes it super simple to opt out (see the link at the bottom of the page).  If you forward this email, there's also a link at the bottom of the page for folks to sign up to receive future emails.  Alright, I reckon that's all for now.  Enjoy the content below, and as always thank you so very much for your interest in and concern for the work we do with students in the Columbia area!   - Jason Blackwell, Area Director

Upcoming Events Despite the semester drawing to a close, there are number of things coming up.  Of course, the biggest things that are upcoming are our camp trips.  There are parents' meetings for both our camp trips during the month of May.  The Crooked Creek Parent's meeting is on Thursday, May 10th at 6pm at the new Young Life office (click here for more info).  The Southwind Parent's meeting is on Monday, May 14th at 7pm at Mary Turbeville's house (click here for directions to Mary's).  If you have kids already signed up, you'll be getting info regarding those meetings in the mail.    We also have two camp fundraising opportunities coming up.  May 5th is our Serve-a-thon at Bethel Christian Camp.  Students can raise support by getting sponsors for that event.  May 12th is also a big day for us.  We'll be hosting a yard sale at Quail Lane Racquet and Swim Club that Saturday morning.  All the proceeds will be used to help our Wyldlife kids go to camp.  If you have any items (big or small) that you'd be interested in donating to this yard sale, please contact Stephanie Hinton at stephanie@columbiasc.younglife.org.  For dates and information on all these events you can view our website or online event calendar.

Camping and Clubs   Unfortunately, things are really coming to and end where club is concerned.  We have nothing but the best to look forward to with regard to camping though.  We have two great trips scheduled for this summer.  The Southwind Trip is June 9-14 for our middle school students and the Crooked Creek Trip is July 19-30 for our high school students.  You can get all the information you need on these trips on our website.  You can even see who is already signed up.  Parents, check out the upcoming events section of this email for more information on our parents' meeting.  If you have students signed up, we'll be mailing out information regarding those meetings as well.   Availability I would like to say a word regarding available space.  Currently, we have space for 5-10 more middle school students on our Wyldlife trip.  It's possible that we could take a few more than that, but presently, that's all the spots we've been given.  So, if you've been waiting to sign your student up, it may be better to do it sooner rather than later.  We have a little bit of urgency with regard to our High School trip as well.  We're traveling with 4 other areas to Colorado, and on May 15th we'll have to make a determination about how many spots Columbia will keep for our use.  We'll still have available spots after May 15th, but it may be fewer spots than we currently have.  So, I would suggest signing up sooner rather than later for this trip as well.   As always, if you have any questions with regard to these trips, please don't hesitate to call our office.  We're telling every student not to let money be an issue, so if you'd be interested helping scholarship a kid to camp, we'd love to hear from you as well.

Leaders   Please be praying for our leaders as they finish up exams and begin their summer break.  As with most college students, they'll be all over the place this summer.  Some are serving at non-Young Life summer camps, some are coaching swimming and quite a few will be going on mission trips to various locations.  Several, in fact, will be going to Africa with Young Life.  You can find out more about that trip by contacting Stephanie.   As always, we love to have both our high school students and leaders serve at Young Life camps in the summer.  Below are the high school work crew folks and college summer staff folks that are currently signed up to volunteer their service at a Young Life camp this summer. They'll be at camps across the nation - from Brittish Columbia, Canada to Ocklawaha, Florida.     Work Crew Pinkie Adams Mills Clark Chapman Fairey Rebekah Henderson Kristen Mayer Drew Mendoza Tsilavo Ratsimbaharison Catherine Roach Ella Salley    Summer Staff   Jordan Boyer Jaime Feather Lee Ann Foster DJ Harris Christine Kirk Justin Linne Andrea Lucas Peter Mathias Julie Orr Jessica Portwood Anne Strohmeier Emily Torchia    For a slightly outdated leader pictorial of all our current leaders click here.

Prayers and Special Needs   Prayer Needs   Staffing - We've hired a second staff person to fill the role of Wyldlife Coordinator.  Her name is Ashley Hong and I know she'd appreciate prayer as she and her husband Alex handle all the details moving here to Columbia.  We look forward to her joining the team in July.   Leaders- As mentioned above, our leaders are very, very active over the summer.  Please pray for their safety and wellbeing.  Pray too for those that will be serving on mission trips, at camps and on summer staff.  Pray also for the prospective leaders that will be coming to USC this fall.  Pray that they'll make the tranistion to college easily and that they'll find YL without a problem.   Camp Trips - there are so many things that go into a Young Life camp trip.  Of foremost importance though is getting the kids that need to be at camp to actually sign up.  Please pray with us for the sign-up process.  Pray that we'll fill all our spots and that the kids that most need to hear the gospel message will be on the trip.  Pray too for safety in travel and while at camp.  Pray for our leaders.  Pray that God will open doors for them with kids at camp.  Finally, please pray for our camp speaker, the program team (the funny guys) and the music leaders.   New Committee Members - our committee plays such a huge role in what we do with kids.  They are the folks making it happen behind the scenes.  Each year we ask new folks to join us as certain members either rotate off or maybe even move away.  Please pray with us that God will provide the individuals and couples we need to maintain a strong, vibrant and healthy adult committee.   Special Needs   Getting the New Office Space and Skit Closet Ready for Use - Carpentry, Painting/Paint Sprayer, Electrical, Furniture, Video Projector, Etc...