WEAR LOVE
Yogev came to Hungry Mother Lutheran Retreat Center this summer to volunteer at Bible Camp. It was his first year at Hungry Mother, and he had heard the staff describe it as a camp with a culture different from most.
Many of the campers come from troubled homes. Food insecurity is a real part of their lives. Nearly all of them are at camp on scholarships, not because their families can pay full price. Yogev quickly understood that connecting with these campers would require more than following a schedule.
The week’s theme was Wear Love, and Monday’s focus was kindness. During Bible Study, the campers and volunteers acted out the story of the Good Samaritan. Yogev played the priest, the character who sees the wounded man on the road and walks past him.
Playing that role stayed with him. Later that day, Pastor Kayla led a Bible Study that unpacked the parable further, showing how a story written thousands of years ago still speaks directly to the choices people make today.
For Yogev, something clicked. He realized the story’s goodness was not about judging who deserves help. It was about mercy and loving kindness. As he put it, mercy is a powerful vehicle for the Word of God and a vision for the kind of world we are called to build.
He left camp that week with a simple takeaway. Mercy, pity, and grace are not just ideas. They are tools people can actually use to change the world around them, one interaction at a time.
Yogev’s week at Hungry Mother happened because campers like the ones he served have a place to go, thanks to the scholarships that donors make possible. His story is one small window into what that support creates: a week where a volunteer sees himself differently, and a camper who might otherwise be overlooked gets to be seen.
WILD
Lynn had her whole life organized and structured with to do lists and with deadlines that were based on what was accomplished the day before. She longed to have purpose to what she did day after day. To pinpoint that purpose seemed almost impossible with so many tasks to do.
When she decided to volunteer at Hungry Mother Lutheran Retreat Center, she wasn’t absolutely sure about what this entailed, but her daily journaling brought into focus one thing – helping others.
Her first “job” at Hungry Mother was to encourage parents to sign up their children for Summer Camp. She started on a well thought out plan to promote the Summer Camp to local residents and neighboring counties too. It worked. She created a colorful flyer listing the fun activities for kids and distributed copies of the flyer everywhere she could think of, libraries, coffee shops, roadside rest areas, etc. The final count of campers rose up to 18 and 15 of them had their camper registration fee covered by a grant from a county organization that was known for funding financially burdened families with beneficial activities – like camp. Lynn applied for that grant.
Lynn helped put together the Summer Camp schedule, which she enjoyed doing immensely. Organizing and structuring were her strong skills. She envisioned the campers having a unique camp experience, so her ideas ran wild. Canoeing, swimming at the lake, nature hikes/journaling, woodworking crafts, biking the creeper trail, and creek biology were just a few of the fun activities she scheduled for Summer Camp. She felt accomplished knowing that the kids would not be bored and would go home with lasting memories.
Her focus on helping others was not only what she saw as an attempt, but also became a reality. She is grateful for the opportunities to volunteer at Hungry Mother and her purpose is now very clear. Helping others is what she feels called to do.
STAIRCASE
Sophie has a menagerie of animals at home, and she will tell you herself that she gets along better with animals than people.
So when Sophie arrived at camp, she was quiet and withdrawn. The people who knew her best predicted she would never make it through the first day. They figured she would be on the phone with her mom before lunch, asking to come home.
But Monica was her counselor that week.
Monica had a gift for meeting campers exactly where they were. When the Critterman arrived with his snakes and the lake shimmered with swimming possibilities, Monica did not push. She encouraged Sophie to take one small step, then another, building bravery like a staircase, pointing out each rung Sophie had already climbed so Sophie could see her own progress.
By the end of the week, Sophie was not just trying new things. She was inspiring her cabinmates to try them too.
“Just knowing that people liked me for me,” Sophie said, “I could actually make friends, and that gave me the strength to stay at camp.”
She never called her mom.
Your generosity to Hungry Mother Lutheran Retreat Center makes it possible to hire counselors like Monica, who know how to walk alongside a quiet, animal-loving girl until she finds out she is braver than she ever imagined.