Region’s summer camps designed in many models
Lutherhaven: Despite options, record numbers coming
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| Youth campers join building project. Photo courtesy of Lutherhaven |
Bob Baker, director of Lutherhaven and Shoshone Base Camp for 25 years, said registrations are up 30 percent this year. The high school program will have nearly 900, compared with 600 last year.
“High schoolers can choose other options, so it’s heartening to see close to record numbers coming,” he said.
About 140 come each week from around the country for community service camps, which will serve 100 North Idaho service sites this summer. Projects include working with children with disabilities, putting a new roof on a house, building a handicap ramp, cleaning basements and more.
Eight to 10 groups, some from different denominations, come with adult leaders who plan worship and campfires. Most stay at the Shoshone Mountain Retreat. Some are at Lutherhaven on Lake Coeur d’Alene. After breakfast at 6:45 a.m., campers go to service projects and return at 2 p.m. for leadership training and recreation on the lake or on the river.
Since 1946, Lutherhaven has offered campers traditional weekly Bible camp experiences for youth from elementary through high school. There are 400 a week in all the programs.
There are also adventure programs with water skiing, wake boarding, sailing, kayaking, rock climbing and paddle boards.
“The big draw of summer camps is the opportunity to be outdoors in a beautiful setting,” Bob said. “There’s nothing like sitting around a campfire by the lake when the stars are out and telling campers the old, old stories from the Bible.”
The camp is open all year for retreats. Seven weeks in the spring and eight weeks in the fall more than 2,000 children come with the North Idaho and Spokane school outdoor education programs for public, Christian and home schools. These children participate in community building and teamwork, and learn about the natural environment, Bob said.
For information, call 208-667-3459 x 110, or email info@lutherhaven.com.
Camp life motivates campers to stretch faith lives and commitment
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| Campers do a group game. Photo courtesy of Camp Gifford Camp |
The Salvation Army’s Camp Gifford, which opened in 1921 on Deer Lake, invites children and youth to opportunities to know they belong, know their lives matter and to experience adventures.
Scholarships make it possible for low-income children to attend based on a sliding scale, said Mark Morton, camp director.
This summer, he said that along with their traditional activities, the camp will have a small-animal farm with miniature horses, goats, sheep and chickens to teach children how to care for animals.
It is also planning to add seven tandem kayaks, six paddle boats and air rifles for target practice along with archery.
Camp Gifford offers five weeks of camp age-group programs and one week of music camp July 10 to 14.
Discovery Camp at the main camp serves 60 boys and 60 girls ages seven to 12.
The Teen Wilderness Camp for 12 boys and 12 girls ages 13 to 17 has cabins, bathrooms and a dining hall, but no electricity or running water. Campers swim at the lake, but otherwise are secluded at a distance from the main camp. They also do a backpacking trip and canoe across the lake and back.
Campers come from Spokane, Eastern Washington, Idaho and Montana, and register through Salvation Army units in Spokane, in Lewiston and Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and in Great Falls, Kalispel and Helena, Mont.
Each week, about 50 staff and volunteers lead the program.
“We are a Christian camp first and foremost, so we have morning devotions, Bible studies, songs about faith, evening devotions at campfires and in cabins at the end of the day, as well as opportunities to learn about God through relationships and camp activities,” said Mark.
“The theme this year, ‘Go Big,’ is based on Mark 12:30, which says we are to ‘love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength,’” he said.
Camp Gifford is open all year for conferences and retreats of corporations, churches, schools, colleges and parachurch groups.
It also hosts two Royal Family Kids Camps for children in foster care—one the week before and one the week after the six weeks of summer camps.
For 10 years, Mark ran Redwood Glen Salvation Army camp near Santa Cruz, Calif., and worked seven years at the Salvation Army Kroc Center in Camden, N.J. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English in 1988 at the University of California in Los Angeles and a master’s in education there in 1989.
He taught high school for three years before he decided to enter ministry.
“I grew up in Salvation Army camps as a child and teen, and went on staff in college,” said Mark, whose wife, Josephine, is program director for the summer camp.
For information, call 233-2511 or email mark.morton@usw.salvationarmy.org.
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