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The daily devotions and program themes built on the overall theme "Love Out Loud", based on the scripture in 1 John 3:18: "Dear children, let's not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions." |
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The daily devotions and program themes built on the overall theme "Love Out Loud", based on the scripture in 1 John 3:18: "Dear children, let's not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions." |
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Our week together as a youth group:
Crews we worked on:
A chronicle (with pictures and videos) of our group's experiences travelling to and from the workcamp and our lives together during the week is here.
If you were with the St. James' Youth Group and have pictures of your crew and worksite that you would like to see here, send them to me at 
and I will make a page for your crew. Be sure to tell me your crew number!
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The community: The Workcamp Stats:
The Wrapup:
Page updated: July 27, 2008
Shelby is in Oceana County, a rural county of 540 square miles' land area located on Michigan’s western coastline, approximately half-way up the state. The county's economy is agriculturally based. The first known white settlement was a saw mill site built in 1849 at the mouth of Whiskey Creek, and the area's economy grew during the lumber era. When the lumber boom came to a halt, farmers found the area an excellent place for orchards. Today the county holds the second largest fruit tree acreage in the state. It is also known as the asparagus capital of the world. Migrant workers drawn by the harvesting of cherries, apples, peaches, strawberries and asparagus have made Shelby their home. See http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5524001554892548822&q=asparagus for a 6-minute video documentary on asparagus farming in Oceana County and the competition the county's asparagus farmers face from South America. U.S. foreign policy aimed at thwarting South American drug trade figures into the story, and the video is cleverly called an Asparagus Stalk-umentary! In 2004, median household income in the county was $37,811, about 15% of the population was below the poverty line, and unemployment was about 9%. Since then, an influx of migrants settling in the area has increased the overall economic and personal need.
Here's a presentation we made to our church congregation during the services on July 27, 2008 to show them what we did and to express our thanks for helping us make this trip. (This is a PowerPoint presentation, about 14 MB.)