When Camp Lakeside applied for a Pathways for Discipleship grant from the Kansas Area United Methodist Foundation, they had no idea that the 2020 summer camping season would quickly come to a halt due to COVID-19.
After the Great Plains Campus Board suspended the summer’s traditional camping programs, Ross Janovec, Camp Lakeside Director, Katie Laing, Camp Lakeside Program Director, and the site council brainstormed ways camp programs could still continue, even if not in the traditional way.
“We knew our campers likely had been pursuing online schooling and communication with friends, so we wanted them to experience ‘camp’ at home and off-screen,” Ross said. “Camp in a Box was a way for our campers to experience camp at home while providing activities and devotional materials that weren’t technology oriented.”
Camp Lakeside’s Camp in a Box included a variety of materials to serve the campers experience while at home with their family. The box included everything from a devotional book, crafts, a worship playlist, an exclusive “Lakeside Canoeing Lizard” sticker, and more.
The response from campers and their families was extremely positive and the Camp Lakeside staff quickly found themselves in need to help. The site council reached out to the Foundation for approval to change their grant from supporting the originally planned summer events to supporting the Camp in a Box efforts. With the support of the grant, Camp Lakeside had the additional resources it needed to partner with other Great Plains camps for staffing.
“Camp Fontanelle and Camp Chippewa graciously and excitedly sent 15 of their summer counselors to assist Lakeside both with packing Camp in a Boxes, and also to work on other maintenance projects on-site,” Ross said. “It was a blessing to share in fellowship, community and laughter with our sister camps for a weekend.”
Through the creativity of Camp in a Box and the partnership with their sister camps, the staff at Camp Lakeside helped their campers experience camp in a new, creative way, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have heard stories that a 9-year-old boy brought the nature scavenger hunt to do on a Boy Scout camping trip, that a 15-year-old female camper decided to work through the devotional book with her friends from school — and of course, the stuffed animals from the Camp Store were extremely popular with our youngest campers,” Ross said.
The Foundation was honored to continue partnering with Camp Lakeside in what turned out to be an unprecedented camping season. The Foundation is thankful for its many faithful donors who give to the Pathways for Discipleship Grant Ministry to allow ministries, like Camp Lakeside, have new visions for what ministry can be.
