Day Camp

Another year of day camp has come and gone. The weeks flew by; it’s hard to believe all that happened within those six weeks. The day camp staff was incredible: a beautiful mix of talents, skin colors, personalities, and past experiences truly made the staff a team. It was a blessing to have such a diverse group with a common purpose. God united the staff for His glory and we can praise Him for that.

Urban Arts

Our second to last week of day camp, we had the pleasure of welcoming Urban Arts. Urban Arts is a Christian program in Detroit; they came in with their own staff and took over for a week, teaching our kids music dance, and art. We (HPCO’s staff) had the opportunity to step back from the roles of teaching and learn along with the kids. The kids absolutely loved it! New talents were discovered in the art room and on the dance floor. The Friday of that week our kids gave a performance of everything they learned that week. Parents and grandparents came to see their kids showing off their new moves and lyrics. It was an incredible week and we’re thankful to the Urban Arts staff for their help.

Overnight Camp

After day camp ended, we had one week of overnight camp. Overnight camp was available to kids ages 11-15. We partnered with Youth For Christ Detroit and brought 17? of our kids to Wildwood Ranch in Howell, MI. What a unique experience for our kids! Life at Wildwood is dramatically different from life in Highland Park; some of our kids loved it for that, others had a harder time. The kids had opportunities that most of them have never had before: horseback riding, canoeing, rock climbing, etc, all while hearing the Word of God. It was great for our kids to step out of their comfort zones and open their eyes to a different world than they were used to. Two of our boys enjoyed it so much, they went back again the next week.

Book Signing

Amidst all that was happening with camp, our tutoring program was still meeting. Dana Hall, the thirteen-year-old that faithfully attends tutoring every week, has written her own book. One of our volunteers, Miss Betty has been working with Dana for months now. Dana, though far behind in her reading levels, proudly finished her book titled “The Three Girls,” written by Dana Hall and illustrated by Sarah Hilliker. What an honor to have an author in our midst! We held a book signing and invited friends and family to help celebrate in Dana’s accomplishment.

p.s. be sure to find us on facebook! we have more pictures from day camp!

The Day Camp staff!!! (Jocelyn, Ashley, Emily, Dominique, Sarah Emily, Aubrey, Mario, Jaylin & Jake)

We are halfway through our summer day camp program! So far, it has been an amazing summer. God has blessed us with a great group of interns & teen staff this year. Each week, we have approximately 30 kids come from the neighborhood. They are involved in Bible activities, sports, art & education. We also take a field trip each week..which so far has included touring Ford Field (home of the Detroit Lions), swimming on Belle Isle and a Tigers game.

We are looking forward to going to Wildwood Ranch for a week of overnight camp the week of August 2-6th. We want to provide scholarships to make camp affordable for our youth. (cost is $100 each) If you are interested in sponsoring a child to attend camp, please donate through our website or send a check to:

Highland Park Community Outreach PO Box 3900 Highland Park Mi 48203

Also, we have a facebook page! Check us out at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Highland-Park-Community-Outreach/120186791344373?v=info&ref=ts#!/pages/Highland-Park-Community-Outreach/120186791344373?v=wall&ref=ts

 Ashley, one of our teen staff, has worked day camp  with us for the past 3 years

Thank you! We look forward to keeping you posted as the summer wraps up.

May 8th and 15th we had our annual sports camp for kids k-8. Children and volunteers completely took over the fields with soccer and baseball games.

The first week we were nervous as we saw the dark clouds covering the sky in the mid-morning. We weren’t sure how the day would turn out; weathermen were predicting heavy showers. But the Lord gave us a good day! It rained for a few minutes, but overall, we were given good weather and the kids had a great time.

Our second week of sports camp was a blast! The harvest was few and the workers were plenty. We had a huge turnout of volunteers, it was almost a 1:1 ratio. The weather was even better than the week before: sunny with blue skies.

After the soccer and baseball games ended, we had hot dogs on the grill! It was a beautiful day and we praise God it went smoothly.

We have a group of volunteers from a church in Windsor that help with Thursday night Bible study. Their  church was attending a youth conference in Lansing called Acquire the Fire and invited a few of our kids to go along. Ten of our high school kids were sponsored to go to this youth conference. What an awesome opportunity it was to be surrounded by thousands of other Christian highschoolers. The conference was made up of skits, speakers, and worship.

Everyone’s favorite speaker, by far, was Nick Vujicic. He is a man born without arms or legs and completely devoted to Christ (www.lifewithoutlimbs.org). It was incredible to hear his story. He successfully captured the attention of everyone in the room, including our kids.

Also at Acquire the Fire was The David Crowder Band, LeCrae, Unhindered and other popular Christian artists. It was good opportunity for our kids to participate in corporate worship.

Two of our young boys made commitments in their walks with Christ that weekend.

25 Pistons tickets were generously donated to HPCO for the Pistons vs. Pacers game. We had ten volunteers and fifteen HPCO kids. The majority of our kids (and volunteers!) had never been to a Pistons game before. What a fun way to just be a kid and cheer on our city’s team.

We were blessed to have one of our board members, Ernie (and his wife) join us for the game. They planned out contests for the kids during each quarter:

What player will score the most points by the first quarter?

How many points will the Piston’s have by half-time?

What will be the point difference by the third quarter?

All our kids participated in the contests for a chance to win either a Pistons bobblehead or t-shirt. The kids had fun getting into the game and getting competitive with each other.

oh yeah, and the Pistons lost.

 50 Christmas presents.

60 food boxes.

23 volunteers.

1 beautiful day of showing God’s love to the community.

Life Church of Canton, MI decided to “adopt” children in Highland Park for Christmas

50 children’s names from HPCO were given to Life Church; 50 kids with bright and excited faces receiving Christmas presents.

 Along with the Christmas presents, we also delivered 60 boxes full of food (including a whole turkey!) to make a Christmas dinner.

 On the morning of December 19, volunteers from Life Church, Highland Park Baptist Church, and Kensington Community Church helped deliver the presents.

It was awesome to see the families turn their thankfulness to God, not us, for the gifts this Christmas.

It was a great time! Everyone had so much fun, we ended up staying at the rink until 8:45! Who knew they would’ve enjoyed it so much!

The above picture is one of the young women that grew up attending HPCO programs. She is now in a beautiful marriage and is a college graduate. Praise the Lord!

During the Open House, we also had a table set up for prayer and sponsorship opportunities. It’s HPCO’s goal to have each our of kids being prayed for on a regular basis. If you are interested in receiving a picture of one of our kids and committing to praying for them, please let us know! Sponsorship is also a need for our children. To sponsor a child through our year-long programs is $25 a month. You will receive regular updates about your child. Please contact us through phone or email if you are interested in sponsorship.

We also had our annual Boxes of Love on November 21. This is an opportunity for us to provide a Thanksgiving dinner to families involved in our programs. This year, we were able to partner with Life Church and Northridge Church’s young adults group, and Highland Park Baptist. They not only donated over 200 boxes combined, but also brought some of their people out to help deliver that Saturday. The ministry that takes place during these outreaches is incredible. Many people involved find that they are not only able to bless a family, but be blessed by the families they spend time with. When the box is delivered, the volunteers take time to pray with the family. Many times, they receive a prayer for them in return.

A grandmother who has eight children and many grandchildren (most of whom are in our program) shared how this seemingly simple gesture of love has blessed her family year after year. With so many people in the family, she said she’s not sure what she would do with out these boxes of love. It was encouraging to hear how God’s family is able to work together to love each other.  

A new presentation, testimony time and tour begin every half hour starting at 1:30. For our planning purposes, if you are able please let us know what time you are planning on coming. Food will be provided through out the day.

Hope to see you there!