At the Oshkosh International Camporee, Pathfinders Fill 5,000 ‘Golden Buckets’

By: Tamara Michalenko Terry, North American Division News

Supplies to fill 5,000 buckets for Adventist Community Services were delivered to the Adventist Community Services (ACS) station at the International Pathfinder Camporee in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, United States. During the camporee, Pathfinders have the opportunity to fill those buckets and earn the “Serving Communities” Pathfinder honor at the same time.

“During a disaster, five-gallon buckets filled with much-needed cleaning supplies are like gold to someone who just survived a natural disaster,” said Marshall Gonzales, Southwestern Union Conference and Texas Conference ACS director. “When a disaster strikes, we distribute the filled buckets, what we call clean-up buckets, by the thousands, so it is imperative to have clean-up buckets on hand.”

The supplies include a household cleaner, dishwashing soap, scrubber sponges, scrub brushes, cleaning towels, dust masks, kitchen disposable and work gloves, trash bags, laundry detergent, paper towels, disinfectant wipes, a clothesline, clothespins, and insect repellant spray.

“The Pathfinder clubs have been amazing,” said Julie Gonzales, Southwestern Union and Texas Conference ACS associate director. “Many, knowing our deadline, have come back repeatedly. The Alvarado Spanish Seventh-day Adventist Church Pathfinder club from Alvarado, Texas, spent three hours filling buckets.”

“We really appreciate the Pathfinder support for this great endeavor, as well as the ACS volunteers here from Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, Texas, and Washington,” said Sung Kwon, North American Division ACS executive director. “We could not achieve this goal without everyone’s generosity.”

Representatives of the Arkansas-Louisiana, Iowa-Missouri, and Greater New York conferences of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America will take the clean-up buckets back home with them to have on hand to distribute when needed. “These conferences have gone through disaster situations — they will really appreciate these clean-up buckets the Pathfinders are filling,” Kwon added.

As of Wednesday, August 14, 2019, more than 2,500 buckets had been filled.

Leaders encouraged participants to spread the word to otherPathfinder clubs to stop by the ACS station and fill a bucket or two. “With everyone’s help, the goal will be reached,” they said. “And while there, pray for the people who will receive the buckets as it will be a challenging time for them. The clean-up bucket may just be the encouragement they need to persevere.”

The original version of this story was posted on the North American Division news site.