COVID

Beyond camp, spreading the word that Hungry Mother was available for class reunions, family gatherings, getaway weekends and more continued to be a focus with the community to help keep expenses met.

We are nearly at 70 years of existence with cyclical times for success. There was another period of nearly a decade when the camp was inactive in the past, but the difficulties of coming out of such times are clear. Trying to keep some momentum year after year seems easier now, though we can’t stop doing the work for making it the relaxing place envisioned in the retreat’s mission.

Prior to Covid, Hungry Mother Lutheran Retreat Center operated as it had for many many years with one week of summer camp and rentals as it still does today, however, camp consisted of basically the same format every year, the same games, the same activities and the same types of food.

During Covid, the camp did not operate and no rentals occurred. It was a quiet time for the retreat center.

Chris, the Executive Director and Property Director is a magnetic personality. The kids love him, he is easy going and fun. He just didn’t have the marketing skills and drive to get things up and going from scratch after Covid.

During a Hungry Mother Board meeting, a Board member Dona felt like she might be able to take on the task of Executive Director knowing there was not a budget to hire a new full-time Director. She offered her skills on a volunteer basis. The Board agreed to give her a try and see how things go. Chris offered to step down from the role as Executive Director and went forward as the Property Director. He took a cut in pay.

Chris trained Dona in the role of Executive Director and she relied on him if she had any operations questions – he was her mentor.

“Dona has been a blessing in the way that she has volunteered to carry Hungry Mother through this build back time. She has revived summer camp after two years of Covid shut down,” Chris said “She deserves the thanks and support from all who still love camp.”

Outreach for campers was among the first tasks, but the realization grew that for a proper camp, health inspections were needed, safety plans had to be in place, healthy menus following proper guidelines should be implemented. Volunteers to clean the cabins and help serve meals during camp were needed. The list grew and work was done to pull off a week of camp fully attended by 16 campers. Lessons were learned from the year and the next year resulted in 20 campers in full attendance (and more lessons learned for improving the next year).

 

WEAR LOVE

Yogev came to Hungry Mother Lutheran Retreat Center this summer to volunteer at Summer 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, because their families can’t 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 Worship Service, 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.