1985 ICS Conference
Conference Coordinator Aukje Masselink

Perspective Report by Carol-Ann Veenkamp

During the school year, Aukje Masselink is a counselor with the Scarborough Board of Education, but for a month each summer she puts in up to 60 hours a week orchestrating arrangements for the annual Niagara Conference.

She spends the month of July commuting to the Institute to coordinate the conference, and to staff the name Aukje has become synonymous with industrious.

No detail was too small to escape her attention, and she put to use her ability to inspire others to volunteer their efforts. Suddenly, people in her congregation found themselves mixing ingredients for play-dough, and even her 84 year old mother was still cooking finger paints for the children’s program the night before the conference was to begin

With a twinkle in her eye, Aukje reports that only one “kid” went missing out of the group of 300 children supervised over the weekend, but the Cabbage Patch Kid was eventually found and returned to her owner.

When Aukje volunteered to take over the job of coordinating the conference two years ago, she admits she didn’t realize how phenomenal a task it was going to be. But she’s game to try it again next year and is already jotting down ideas for the ’86 conference.