Slingshot Saturdays

I've use the term Slingshot Saturday (SS) quite frequently and thought I should share a little bit about what it is and how it came to be.

Camp Good News, our summer camp for at-risk kids, has been running for about ten years now.  Some of the kids who come to camp used to be involved in a good news club in their community, and others just showed up at camp.  If you've ever been to camp you know how special that one week can be.

A few years ago when I joined Castlefield Community Church (CCC) I met Yvette who was doing some work with Angeltree (a ministry of prison fellowship).  Yvette had a desire to run a camp for those kids.  I also had a desire to run a camp for the Camp Good News kids.  In cooperation, CEF, Angeltree, and CCC initiated a march break camp for disadvantaged children.  It was a chaotic, but exciting week at camp.  The kids were all SO happy to get to see each other again and kept asking if we could have camp every weekend!

The thought seemed fairly ridiculous to me but I couldn't shake how effective camp ministry could be and felt we had to find a way to do more.  Seeing Angeltree kids once a year wouldn't be effective ministry.  There were clubs at Jane/Woolner and Tandridge but having everyone together was special.  After some prayer I felt a monthly Saturday program would help support the clubs at Jane/Woolner and Tandridge and open the doors for continued ministry to Angeltree kids.

With a lot of support from everyone we initiated our first Slingshot Saturday in April 2009.  We easily averaged twenty five kids a week...one ten year old boy even took a forty five minute bus ride every month on his own so he could come.

Interestingly, six months after Slingshot began the clubs at Jane/Woolner and Tandridge closed because there was no one to continue the work there.  Slingshot Saturday would be the only ministry to the kids in those communities.  Only God could have seen that coming.

Why the name Slingshot Saturday?  Because the vision is to "help children overcome the giants in their lives" just like David defeated Goliath.


The kids would love something every week but I think it would lose it's "specialness".  It would also make it more difficult to find dedicated volunteers who could come week in and week out.

Two years later Slingshot Saturday has now moved to Rexdale Alliance Church which is a walk away from Tandridge and a five minute drive from the housing co-op for battered women.  I am thankful I don't have to drive an hour and a half before and after the program to pick up kids now and spend more time hanging out with them.

This Saturday, November 12th", we begin a new Slingshot program near Yorkdale mall.  There's a housing co-op there with a lot of needy kids.  One of the church members from the church we're partnering with shared that some of the kids talk about their mom sleeping with guys for money.  There is no doubt these kids are surrounded by a lot of darkness, it is my prayer that we'll be a light to them.  It is my prayer that these kids will know that, God has a plan for them, a "hope and a future."  Please pray for this.