Camp Wakon Da-Ho
Summer Camp season is well underway and registration numbers are high. Children, Youth and Adults gather week after week in Casey County to celebrate faith with old friends while making new ones along the way. Camp Wakon Da-Ho has welcomed campers for about 50 years now…give or take a few years. We started out with campers staying in the old lodge, then moved up to tents and hogans and now we have cabins with bunk beds and swamp coolers and an air conditioned dining hall.
This year we welcomed Linda Lee as our new camp manager and cook. Her family moved into the Wakondaminium (double-wide trailer) in the spring. She’s done a fantastic job of keeping the facilities clean and in good working order thus far…but that task gets harder and harder each year as the facilities age and as giving continues to drop.
Our first full week of camp was CYF 1 and we hosted 96 youth and 24 adults. For the first 2 days we could not use the girls bathhouse because the septic lines were clogged. The cost of repairs was several thousand dollars. Once that was taken care of, we started running out of hot water in the girls bathhouse. The water heater was nearly 20 years old and in bad need of replacement. Bob Parker was able to procure a new 75 gallon propane water heater for around $1000. He installed it for free.
Camp Wakon Da-Ho continues to be a place where children and youth encounter God in the midst of creation to form and strengthen their faith. The foundation they build in these formative years is what will carry them through to adulthood and help shape them to be strong leaders of the church in years to come. Our continued support of this ministry enables our denomination to reciprocate that support for churches throughout the state. Training leaders for the church and lifting up pastors for future service to the church is what camp does best.
As our way of supporting this vital ministry our VBS mission focus will be to collect supplies needed for camp. This can be craft supplies, cleaning items, balls and hula-hoops for outdoor games, or monetary gifts to support the needs of camp. Join us for a great week of VBS and help support a vital ministry of the region.
Blessings,
Tracy