photo donna zukowski

PLANNING — Bishop John Privett and Archdeacon David Irving at the Dream Buiders on-site planning session in January.

Camp Owaissi has been a place of nurturing, growth and development for many people. It continues to be a perfect setting for the Diocese of Kootenay summer camping ministry, but what about the rest of the year? Can we utilize this beautiful place year round? Dare we dream of the possibilities for further ministry and mission in this sacred place?

That's how Dream Builders began. They did some dreaming about the potential for developing a facility that would accommodate year-round operations. When Dream Builders II was formed, our mandate was to take these dreams and ideas and develop them into a concrete strategic plan, with tactical steps to make the dream a reality. We began meeting each month for 2 - 3 hours, discussing, proposing, analysing and planning. After several months, people began to ask, "So, what are we going to build there? What's the plan for Owaissi?"

Good questions! Let me share what we've been working on, and where we are in the process. Strategic planning is a complex and time-consuming process. We began by clarifying what the vision for Owaissi was, what values would guide our decisions and who would be affected by, and involved in any plans we might propose. We also analysed the environment we are currently in. This included the cultural, political, economic, social and demographic climate and trends that define the context in which we seek to carry out our mission.

As mentioned in a previous article, we identified seven categories under which any planning we would do would fall. We called these Key Result Areas (or KRAs) since they are the key areas in which we need to achieve results. These seven KRAs are: Governance and Management, Ministries and Services, Environment, Communications and Change, Collaboration and Partnerships, Fiscal Sustainability, and Human Expertise. We have defined high-level goals for each of the KRAs so that planning and development is focused on doing the critical activities needed to achieve our vision and mission. Various members of the Dream Builders team took on the task of researching ideas and developing more detailed proposals and tactics for the portion of the plan for which they are accountable. Every month we would discuss the results and build on them in the committee meetings.

On January 30 and 31, the Dream Builders met at Camp Owaissi for a long on-site session. We brought our sleeping bags, and enough food and coffee to sustain us while we worked diligently from Friday evening to Saturday afternoon. On a large wall-sized paper, we mapped out all the various tasks needed to achieve the goal for each KRA.

Through this process we began to incorporate each element of the KRAs into an integrated plan. There will be many more iterations of the plan, but at this point in the process, we are beginning to explore possible partnerships, we're identifying gaps in ministries and services, setting up funding plans, looking into municipal, aboriginal and government land development regulations, learning about environmental sustainability, best practices and regulations, reviewing governance and management models and planning for anticipated human resources and expertise needed to implement any initiatives. There are still many questions that need answering before we can define precisely "what" we will be recommending for future development, and "when" it would take place. At this time, we estimate that we would have a clearer picture of the "what" by early 2010. As you can see, there is still plenty of time to influence this plan. We have committed to keeping people informed as the planning process unfolds, and providing many opportunities for people to be engaged in the process. In the meantime, we encourage you, if you have internet access, to check the Diocesan website from time to time, where you will find a link called "Dream Builders," and/or contact Dream Builders Committee members if you have questions or insights you'd like to share. Members of the Dream Builders Committee are: Richard Simpson, Chair 250-404-4249 richard.simpson@shaw.ca ; Bishop John Privett, Archdeacon David Irving, Lynn Fairey, Anne Robinson, Terje Salhus, Joanne Simpson, Pam Wilson, Donna Zukowski.

photo and report diane graham, youth group coordinator

OUTREACH PROJECT — St. Andrew's, Kelowna Youth Group completed their local outreach project by fundraising over $500 this past year towards Christmas presents and dinner for their adopted family from SHARE. They also participated this past holiday season in serving chili lunch and Christmas dinner to the homeless at the Kelowna Drop-In Centre. They are shown here delivering gifts to their adopted family: (left to right) Matthew Tuck, Robin Graham, Alec Flynn, Emerson Kirby, Tyler Tuck, Trevor Tuck, Laura Jeffery, Shanna Graham, Olivia Kirby, (missing Evan Jeffery, Chelsea Wilson, Ainsley Wilson, Cole Young).