Topeco Church of the Brethren

Youth Fellowship (CBYF)

National Youth Conference 2010!

It may seem a long way off, but it won't be long before NYC is here again. There are 14 Youth who attend pretty regularly who are eligible to go in 2010. There are four guys and ten girls, which means if everyone goes, we will need a minimum of one male chaperone and 2-3 female chaperones (advisors must be at least 22 years old).

In 2006 we budgeted $1000 per person, and the total expenses came in a little below that figure. This allowed us to fly to Denver (departing from Greensboro to save airfare), rent a van and car and drive to Colorado Springs, and spend 2 days sightseeing (the Incline Railway to the top of Pikes Peak, the Garden of the Gods, and the Royal Gorge Bridge). We spent two nights in a hotel in Colorado Springs. We then drove back to the Denver airport and caught the NYC shuttle bus to Ft. Collins. Registration for NYC was $400 per person (youth and advisors), and of course that fee may go up next time. We required each Youth to make a non-refundable "commitment" deposit of $200 to go to NYC. The rest was raised through various fundraisers and grants from the church Finance Committee.

We need to decide if we're flying or traveling by bus/van (the Virlina District offers a two-week bus trip for a fairly reasonable fee with sightseeing opportunities along the way). The cost to fly will probably be going up; it was around $340 per person in 2006.

If the Youth want to do some sightseeing before NYC, then we'll need to factor in the cost of the attractions, hotel rooms, and rental vehicles. Each Youth brought spending money for meals and souvenirs--there is no cost for meals while at NYC, but there are souvenirs for sale there. The cost of the shuttle buses is pretty much a given regardless of whether the Youth arrive ahead of time or on the day of the conference; this fee was about $15 per person one-way.

If we continue the commitment fee for the Youth (advisors weren't required to pay that last time), and the $1000 per person fee still seems feasible, that leaves around $15,000 we need to have on-hand by July 2010 (actually, airline reservations need to be made well in advance to save money, and the registration fees are due early in 2010). Once we determine what's on-hand now, and what the Youth want from the trip, we can compute how much we'll need to raise. If anyone wants to take over the fundraising, we'd be glad to provide information about how much we've made in the past doing various events. We're also open to suggestions for new fundraisers...or, if some of the parents/youth would like to pay their own way and avoid fundraisers, that will work, too. Please be in prayer for NYC; this can be a wonderful, spiritual, life-changing experience for our Youth!

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Most recent revision Wednesday, July 2, 2008