Lake Games A Unique Event For A Good Cause
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Warsaw High School and Grace College alum Lindsay Anderson speaks with a group of children in Haiti. Anderson, who is the founder of HSMS Haiti, a Christian non-profit located in Jeremie, Haiti, has helped organize the 2017 Lake Games in Winona Lake, an event that will benefit an HSMS school scheduled to open in the fall. (Photos provided.)
WINONA LAKE — It was through athletics that Lindsay Anderson was introduced to mission work. So it’s only fitting then that the former Grace College and Warsaw High School soccer player is looking to athletics once more as a way to raise funds for her non-profit organization, HSMS Haiti.
The 2017 Lake Games will take place July 29-30 at Grace College in Winona Lake. Participants can expect a variety of unique activities all while giving to a good cause.
“It’s kind of this go big or go home concept so it’ll be just an event that people will be like ‘I will for sure mark that on my calendar for next year. I don’t want to miss that, and I’ll invite more friends to it,” Anderson said. “I don’t want it to be just about Haiti. I know that the money goes to a good cause, but I really want the people to actually enjoy the event and then know that the money isn’t just going into someone’s pocket to get richer, but it’s going to benefit other people. So it’s like a double whammy, I guess.”
HSMS (Heart, Soul, Mind and Strength) is a year-round ministry providing relief efforts and educational/ Christian discipleship opportunities in the community of Jeremie, Haiti. Anderson first became acquainted with mission work through her WHS soccer coach, Brent Wildman, during a trip to Costa Rica and later through Grace coach Michael Voss on a trip to Peru. She says she found her calling on those trips, and after a visit to Haiti following the massive earthquake there in 2010, she found her destination.
“I went to Haiti the first time after the earthquake in 2010 for a two-month visit and fell in love and knew that I wanted to bring a different hope than just physical hope — physical and spiritual. And I knew that I wanted to work with kids just being the next generation that’s raised up,” Anderson said.
The children of Haiti are of particular concern to Anderson, and it is with them in mind that she and her partners in HSMS are seeking to build a discipleship school in Jeremie in time for the fall.
Educational opportunities in the underdeveloped nation — the poorest in the Western Hemisphere — are few and far between, and it’s become common practice for Haitian families to send children to orphanages as a way simply to give them a future, Anderson says. As a result of this system, otherwise loving families are broken up. Some children are adopted by families overseas, resulting in a “brain drain” to Haiti. And still others are victimized or sold into modern day slavery.
Through its new school, HSMS hopes to provide children with a chance at both a secular and religious education without the need to enter the orphanage system and in some instances to even reconcile families that have been broken up by that system.
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Anderson holds a young child while in Haiti. Her mission is to provide educational and discipleship opportunities for children like this one in the underdeveloped nation.
“In some cases, they’re negligent families or there are abusive homes that orphanages are meant for, and there are true orphans. But in most cases, about 90 percent of kids living in orphanages are not true orphans,” explained Anderson. “My concept — because I’ve lived in Haiti for the past six years — is to work with reconciling those homes, even removing some kids from orphanages that could be placed back in their family, in a healthy environment while providing them with this education-slash-discipleship of the heart with our home and connecting them with their family and society. Which is critical because when they age out they have to stay in their community. We don’t necessarily want them to move to the States or stay separated; we want them to be influencers in the community.”
The Lake Games will include five events — a CrossFit competition, an obstacle course, an off-road bike race, a 5K run/ walk and a canoe race — and will open with registration at the Gordon Recreation Center on the Grace College campus at 5 a.m. July 29. The two-day games will start with the CrossFit competition, followed by the bike race, then the 5k on July 29. Registration on July 30 will begin at 7 a.m. before competition resumes with the obstacle course race, then the canoe races.
Cost for the CrossFit competition, which is for teams of one male and one female, is $50 per team. Entry to the bike race is $25, and the cost to participate in the 5k, which will be a glow-in-the-dark night run, is $20 per person. The price tag to run the obstacle course is $40, and admission to the canoe races is $20 per two-person team.
Anderson and her fellow event organizers looked to established organizations to help put on the individual events. Haymaker CrossFit is sponsoring the CrossFit competition, KCV Cycling is organizing the bike race, and Green Earth is organizing the 5k, while Metzger Outdoors is putting on the obstacle course, and Paddlers for Conservation is sponsoring the canoe races. Anderson has nudged each of those sponsors to do something a little different with their portion of the event, and the Lake Games promises to be a unique affair.
The encouragement to make the games a little different than other events like them was partly inspired by Anderson’s experiences in Haiti.
“I’m excited about it because I love uniqueness. Anything in Haiti is never planned: It’s always unexpected things that make stuff awesome. And when you do stuff with God too, He kind of makes it like that. So I’m just always about being adaptable and going the full limit,” she explained.
Along with the five event sponsors and Grace College, numerous other sponsors have stepped up to make the Lake Games possible, and Anderson gave thanks to each of them.
“I just want to say a huge thanks, that this event wouldn’t be possible without all the sponsors. Not only are they supporting the Lake Games event, but they’re also supporting the ministry in Haiti,” she said.
Camping is available on the grounds of Winona Lake MTB Trails for Lake Games participants. Spots are mostly for primitive tent camping, but small camper spots are also available with prior permission. Call (574) 453-7651 to check availability or reserve a spot.
For more information on the Lake Games, go to www.lakegames.org. For more info on HSMS Haiti, visit www.hsmshaiti.org.