START with these two and it'll all be good

WildSide has 390 spots available for students and leaders.  This does not include staff or Workcrew.  These are available on a first come, first serve basis.  Therefore we encourage each group not to delay in registering.

Here is our schedule for spots.:

April 1 -  Drop-Down Date. You can drop spots without penalty. If you do drop spots your $50 deposits will be applied to your total invoice. If you want to increase your spots after the drop down date  you can do so based upon availability. 

June 1 - Locked In Date. we will need your total numbers and break down for guys/girls spots.  This is the student/leader / workcrew total you will be billed.  

After June 1 -  Run to the Finish Line. Please continue to go for it. Chase after students about going to WildSide. Be tenacious.  We have found that students who sign up in the last 2 weeks before camp often have their lives rocked by Jesus.  If your numbers change in the last two weeks, just call us and let us know what is happening so we can adjust as we prepare housing. 

If your numbers increase or decrease, or if you have any questions about spots or money simply email Sandy and she can assist. makeripplefx.com. 

We don't have a ton of deadlines. However, make sure you are aware of when stuff is due. We suggest putting these in your calendar now.  Also, anytime we ask for something to be submitted or sent in please send all info and forms to makeripplefx@gmail.com

April 1 - Spots Drop Down Date:

Send us an email and let us know if you are keeping all of the spots you originally registered for. After April 1 you lose your deposit [$50] on any spots you drop. 

May 1 -  Workcrew numbers Update:

We need to know how many high school students you have lined up for workcrew.  This gives us time to make sure we have enough.

June 1 - EVERYTHING ELSE:

June 1 is a big day. We basically need four things:

1. Final numbers. 

After June 1 you are fully committed financially to your spots. This gives the camp time to order food and us time to do final planning.

2. Housing Form.

We need you to fill out your group's housing form. Please completely fill it out. This is critical for us to assign lodging.

3. Dietary Needs Form. 

We can't order food if we don't know who has allergies, or how many vegetarians we have.

4.  Leader T-shirt Order Form.

Some groups like to order t-shirts for all of their leaders. If you'd like to do this for your leaders then we suggest doing this in advance. Ordering early lets us pull your orders and ensure you get all the correct sizes. 

 We try to keep things pretty simple. There are a few guidelines that we have put in place over the years that have really helped WildSide be a great experience for everyone attending.

Electronics:  NO Cell phone, i-pads, tablets, etc. Just don’t bring them.  We don’t allow them at Wildside. Quite simply, students don’t need them and it actually is a distraction from interacting with friends and leaders and hearing from God, so we don’t allow them for any reason.  However, we do allow the adult leaders to bring phones. We do not allow Workcrew to have phones. We do not allow High School students who are student leaders to have phones. 

Bathing Suits: So here's the scoop on suits... Guys- Just bring normal boxer-like suits. Girls- We prefer they wear a one-piece or tankini. If they don't have that, it's ok. They don't have to buy one, but please have them bring an extra solid-color t-shirt to wear over their two piece suit. 

Energy Drinks and Soda Contra ban: We don’t allow students to bring soda or energy drinks.  They can purchase sodas one at a time at the snack bar, but we have found that in the past excessive amounts of pop, candy or energy drinks right before bed creates problems for students getting to sleep.  Students are welcome to bring some snacks to share with their cabin, however, the soda and energy drinks need to be left at home.

Practical Jokes: For whatever reason students like to plot to play a practical jokes on other cabins. We get it. There is nothing like a good practical joke. Unfortunately  in the 25+ years we have been doing camps we have never seen this go well. Ever.  EVER. What generally happens is that practical jokes just create frustration amongst campers, a Lose-Lose scenario for leaders and spiritually they become a distraction away from Jesus.  In most other settings we personally love practical jokes. However at camp we discourage them.  Actually we forbid them. Especially ones that pit one cabin against another. While we are at WildSide, in special circumstances, if there arises a need for you to help your students be somewhat mischievous  find John and he can find a way for your students to have some adventure without becoming a spiritual distraction. 

 Workcrew is a leadership and service opportunity for college and high school students. Workcrew (WC)  is literally the backbone of our camp. Without WC  WildSide could not happen.

Our WC sets up, helps facilitate, tears down and cleans up after all of our major program activities. They also help run our waterfronts, facilitate meals and do a 1000 other behind the scenes tasks. 

We encourage you as a Trip Leader to use WC as a way to develop your own students as servants and leaders.

What is Required:

 This year we will need each church to provide 1 WC  person for every 10 people they are bringing. So if your group size is 20, you’re responsible for 2 WC.   WC can be high school or college students. If you have a few more  people interested in WC than your allotted amount - that’s awesome!  Just let us know how many you plan on bringing. 

We  will need to know if you know how many workcrew spots you will be filling by May 1. 

If you are unable to fill your allotted WC spots we ask that you cover the financial cost for them of $200 pp. 

WC come one day early to WildSide to help set up camp.  So their 2020 arrival date is  June 13. 

Once you register your group for WildSide we will provide you with a  login to our  Trip Resources Page.  On the page you'll find all the down loads you need - All the forms and packing lists, plus:

Promotional Videos

We provide a couple of different options for promo videos. The first is a link to a dropbox folder we put our promo videos in.  You can download  them from the link.  We also encourage you to text this link to yourself so that you can access these videos from your phone. This is a great way to show parents and students what WS is like.

The second form is through an online video editing program.  This allows you to personalize your video  easily. We have already done 95% of the work. Just add your own touches and in less than 5 minutes you can have a personalize promo video.  Everything is online and it is pretty simple. Download the instructions in the downloads section .

Sample Brochures

Each group develops their own brochure. However we do have some samples that you can adapt or steal verbiage from.  

Sample Parent Letters

We have a sample parent letter for you to edit for your own needs. This is a letter that RiverTree sends out a couple weeks before WildSide. It is a summary of a bunch of details for parents. So feel free to use this how you  want and edit it to meet your needs.

We provide medical release forms that cover RippleFX, Round Lake and partnering churches. You have to use this med form for WS20.  There is both a pdf version and then also a doc that you can download on our Trip Leader Resources page. You can edit the doc by adding your churches name if you so desire.  Do not edit any of the other wording or delete any content. This is one way to make paperwork less complicated.  Or you can have students complete both your own churches form and then also this WS20 form. It's up to you. 

If your church does online registration with electronic signatures, please be sure to use the exact legal wording on our form with  whatever you do online. 

When you arrive at WildSide you should have two copies of our medical release form for each person coming with your group.  One copy to immediately hand in to our camp nurse and a second copy for you to keep and have for your drive home. 

Oh, and do not forget to send your workcrew's forms with them - they come a day early.