Helping others was a non-negotiable aspect of the 2024 International Pathfinder Camporee, and Adventist Community Services (ACS) supported many of the philanthropic projects already underway in Gillette, Wyoming.

Two particular ACS projects were closely related, although seemingly unrelated: hygiene kits and planters. Bo Gendke, ACS Director for the Texas Conference and Southwestern Union, provided valuable insight, focusing primarily on the hygiene kits.

“We have several organizations that work with homeless shelters or youth shelters. We decided to have the Pathfinders help us put together these hygiene kits: shampoo, shower gel, toothbrushes, toothpaste, a comb, a razor, shaving cream and a towel,” Gendke said. “Some of them don’t use all of the products, but we try to make sure we can provide for everyone there.”

Pathfinders have demonstrated throughout Camporee week (Aug. 6-9) and for many years and decades that they are wholeheartedly committed to helping those in need. There has also been interest in receiving certain awards related to various community service efforts. “The award for helping others through ACS is one of them,” Gendke said, “and the other award is the carpentry award that (the planter box participants) are working on.”

Gendke said discussions on both ideas ran parallel and began last summer. As for the carpentry, “We originally wanted to build mini-houses, but figuring out where to put them in the community was a little more difficult,” he said, “so the above-ground gardens turned out to be a better project to help the community with. We’ve been having monthly conversations for probably a year about how (and) what we would do.”

The team has set an ambitious goal of delivering 7,000 kits, many of which will remain on site. “I think about 3,000 are staying in Gillette, and the rest are going to specific conferences they’ve requested for various ministries,” Gendke said. At the time of the interview, they were already close to the 7,000 mark, which is notable considering the delays caused by the severe storm a few nights earlier.

Strong support

Gendke noted that Cathy Kissner, ACS director for the Rocky Mountain Conference and Mid-American Union, has been a major contributor to this joint effort, as has Walter Harris, ACS director for the Greater New York Conference. Harris provided more details on the planter boxes. He mentioned his collaboration with W. Derrick Lea, ACS director for the North American Division (NAD), who sponsored both the agricultural outreach and the sanitation kits.

Harris said talks began about six months ago. “When we spoke to one of our disaster relief partners here in the region, the Salvation Army, they said they had a project they wanted to do, but they didn’t have the manpower or funding to do it. So we jumped right in.”

The planters are enclosed wooden structures in which people can create personal gardens. This offers people, especially the elderly, the opportunity to embark on a path to self-sufficiency, especially as it becomes increasingly difficult to afford food.

The box portion is 4 feet by 2 feet by 2 feet; it also has four 1-foot legs, making it 3 feet tall, which is ergonomic for most users. Harris says these dimensions and other details were fine-tuned to stay within available financial and other resources.

Like Gendke, Harris emphasized the dedication of the Pathfinder youth and their eagerness to not only help those in need, but also to learn a valuable skill like carpentry. Given the complexity of the construction and the short time frame, the goal is 25 units, all of which will be distributed throughout the Gillette community.

The hygiene kits and planters are two parts of the beautiful, bright and colorful patchwork of Pathfinder charity at Camporee.

Click here to read how the North American Division ACS and Youth and Young Adult Ministries responded after the storm that disrupted the camporee.