“As the deer panteth for the water, So my soul longeth after Thee. You alone are my heart's desire, And I long to worship Thee”

Sugar Creek Monthly Supporters

Greetings to you from the Sugar Creek Board of Directors. I’d like to take a moment of your time to introduce myself and to speak with you about Sugar Creek Bible Camp’s Pioneer Club and the concept of sustained giving.

My name is Michael Douglass and I have served on the Sugar Creek Board of Directors since February of 2017. With the election of the new Board at the Annual Meeting in 2019, I was elected Board President and continue to serve in that role. It is on behalf of the Board that I am writing to you today.

In 1966, The Sugar Creek Board of Directors established the Pioneer Club to create a group of people dedicated to ensuring a strong camping ministry would continue at Sugar Creek. One of the primary goals of the Pioneer Club was to provide a base of support such that Summer Campers would only be charged 60% of the actual cost of a week of camp. To become a Pioneer Member, one donates a minimum of $100 a year. There are also giving levels above the minimum.

Many of our original Pioneer Club members, who supported this camp regularly for years, are no longer with us. We are looking for new people willing to take up the cause as regular supporters of this outdoor ministry.

Sustained giving is the donation of money on a recurring basis over an extended period. Within the world of non-profit fund raising, it is hardly a new idea – but it may very well be an idea whose time has come for Sugar Creek. I became a sustainer for Public Radio, years ago. Each month I have a modest sum charged to my credit card where it gets folded into other purchases and paid when I pay my credit card bill. It simply becomes part of my monthly budget to the extent that I hardly notice it.

For me it is vastly easier to make a modest gift monthly than to make a more significant gift once a year. Even a gift as small as $10.00 a month would more than qualify a donor to become a member of the Sugar Creek Bible Camp Pioneer Club. A gift of $25.00 a month would be $300.00 a year – a significant contribution.

Sugar Creek has created a Sustaining Giver dropdown menu on our website wherein you can create your own account, set up a recurring donation, and access your account at your convenience. For this year you would select the Campaign: 2021 Annual Gifts and the Purpose: Pioneers.

Imagine if we built our own Sugar Creek Sustainer Club and drew a thousand members across our more than 100 member congregations (that would be just 10 people per congregation!) That number could easily translate to several hundred thousand dollars in camp support every year! Truly, there is strength in numbers.

This kind of sustained support can provide for ongoing expenses the Camp will always have: it can help keep roofs on buildings, vehicles on the road, horses in the pasture. And perhaps most important from my perspective, it can help keep camp fees affordable.

We know that the summer Bible camp experience has a profound impact on faith formation within our youth. Our collective Lutheran Outdoor Ministries play a critical role not only in the lives of our children today – but in the health and vigor of our Lutheran Church for years and decades to come. Financially supporting Sugar Creek is truly an investment in the future. I am challenging the members of our Sugar Creek Board of Directors to join me in becoming Sustaining Givers. Won’t you join us too?

A Fellow Servant,

Board of Directors President