During our camp season on Good SOIL, to highlight our seasonal staff, we’re taking a trip around camp to all the favorite places they hold dear. For many, Camp Mount Luther is a haven, a place of peace, good memories, and fun times. Usually there’s one (or maybe a few!) place where a person feels particularly drawn: their favorite place to go. In those special spots, camp becomes embodied, and we grow deep roots into the very landscape of Camp Mount Luther. It’s not just a building. Or a campsite. Or a worship space. It’s a memory, a feeling, a place of community.
Let’s continue our tour of staff members’ favorite places…
Some people know Camp Mount Luther so well and have been coming for so long, that choosing their favorite spot is like thinking about an old friend. You hold memories of your time together all the way from childhood to adulthood. That’s certainly the case for Assistant Director Charlene, who not only has been working at camp for 17 years but also came during Family Camp and with her church as a child.
If you know anything about Charlene, you likely know her as Craft Queen—leading fun activities for all ages in Maple Hall. So, it may come as no surprise to learn this staple building of camp is her favorite. Around since the beginning in the early 1960s, Maple Hall has seen many lives. It’s been the main gathering place and dining hall, rainy day space, meeting room, and craft lodge. In the future, after capital campaign renovations, it might take on new life as a regular retreat space.
Charlene remembers Maple Hall as the main hub, recollecting fondly about gathering around the central fireplace with her family (the fireplace was removed relatively early in the building’s life—look for the bricks in the middle of the floor next time you’re there).
She also loves all the windows, which let her look out and observe the busy humming of Maple Village. One such observation was a bear that came ambling unbothered through the village one day. Charlene laughs about being the one in the exhibit at the zoo for the bear to come see, not the other way around. Being in Maple Hall with its walls of windows does allow you to feel both separate and connected from the outside at the same time.
Of course, many of Charlene’s experiences and memories come from crafting with kids. She skillfully ties in the day’s theme while giving campers freedom to explore all the wonderful craft supplies she keeps well stocked. Campers love Charlene, too. During electives, she always has a generous gaggle of kids heading down to Maple Hall for crafts. It’s a quiet haven if you’ve been working hard out in the sun all day!
Being at Maple Hall gives Charlene a sense of joy and happiness. It’s her “home” at camp. Consider these words from Proverbs:
By wisdom a house is built,
and by understanding it is established;
by knowledge the rooms are filled
with all precious and pleasant riches.
It was wisdom given by the Holy Spirit that built Camp Mount Luther almost 65 years ago. We established this place with an understanding that we have a calling to plant God’s people in good soil. Knowledge has filled the rooms all these years with riches—campers and staff ready to know and serve God. These are the most precious and pleasant riches. We’re thankful Charlene has gifted her knowledge to fill Maple Hall.