We just entered Spring and we are already thinking about Summer! With the College Scholarship application deadline now behind us, the next major program available to our members is the Summer Camp Grant Program for youth.
If you have summer camp-aged kids or grand-kids, take advantage of this great opportunity. Assured Life will assist with the cost of sending your kids or grand-kids to summer camp. The maximum camp grant is $100, payable directly to the child. Applications are available on our website or you can click here to access directly. The deadline for summer camp grant applications is May 15, 2015. Checks are typically issued by the end of May.
Join Hands Day – Adult and Youth Volunteer Coop
Join Hands Day is a national volunteer day that brings young 
people and adults together to make great contributions to their community. The event is held on the first Saturday of May each year. Youths and adults work together on an equal basis to plan, organize and implement the day’s community service project.
2015 Join Hands Day is Saturday, May 2, 2015. What do you do?
One member confessed that the camp/lodge leaders were just not sure what they wanted to do for a Join Hands Day event. This is where trust in our youth comes in. It is very important to include the youth group in the decision of what to do for a project. If they are into it, the project will be much more successful and fun. Having said that, it is a good idea to be able to throw out some ideas for a project. Use the Assured Life Association Planning Guide for ideas or click here for ideas.
Finding a youth group to partner with is not that difficult, but is one of the first steps you need to take in putting on a Join Hands Day project. An incentive for the youth group is the fact that as a result doing a Join Hands Day project with your camp/lodge, they are eligible to apply for one of our Society’s Summer Camp Grants, regardless of whether their parents or grandparents are members.
The trick to a successful Join Hands Day event is to start early so that you are not rushed with a bunch of planning meetings right before the event. Here are the general steps to planning a Join Hands Day project:
- Establish a Join Hands Day Committee.
- Identify a youth group to partner with.
- Choose a project-remember, it is important to include the youth group in the decision of what to do for a project.
- Plan & identify resources, supplies and people needed to pull off the project.
- Nail down the details – last minute planning to make sure everything is in place for your project.
- May 2, 2015 – Have fun with your project or event.
- Report your project and results.
Feeding America in the Middle of a 100 Million Meal Challenge
It is early for our National Member Food Drive promotion, but this came up in an email from Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization.
Join the Feeding America community and award-winning speaker Tony Robbins and impact the lives of those living in hunger. Every $1 you give can help secure and distribute 20 meals through the Feeding America network of member food banks to families facing hunger.
If you donate online, be sure to send your payment receipt to Assured Life Association with your request for a donation match (up to $250 per member per year) through the Growth Ring Matching Gift Program.
On the Lighter Side
Ole, Sven and Lars decided to go to Mexico for a vacation. While there they partied too heartily and woke up in jail only to find out they all have been sentenced to die in the electric chair. None of them recalled what they had done.
Sven is the first to be strapped in the electric chair and the guards ask if he has any last words. Sven says, “I yust graduated from St. Olaf College in Nortfield, Minnesota, with a degree in divinity studies, and I am a good Christian man…. but if it is God’s will for me to die, so be it.”
The guards throw the switch and nothing happens. The guards get on their knees and say, “You are surely a Godly man and we are going to let you go.”
Lars is next to be strapped into the electric chair and the guards ask if he has any last words. Lars says, “I yust graduated from Concordia college in Moorhead, Minnesota, with a degree in divinity studies, and I am a God fearing man. If it is my time to die, it is God’s will.”
The guards throw the switch and nothing happens. The guards say, “You also are a Godly man and we are going to let you go.”
Ole is the last to be strapped into the electric chair. The guards ask him if he has any last words. Ole says, “Vel, I yust graduated from South Dakota Tech in electrical engineering…. and I’ll tell ya right now, if you don’t plug dat ting in, it ain’t gonna vork.”
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