A message from Bob Confer…
Throughout the year we have shared the news with everyone in the Council that we are moving ahead with a Mormon-only week at Camp Dittmer in 2016 that run from July 11 to July 16. We plan on running this LDS (Latter Day Saints) week every year in conjunction will the Hill Cumorah Pageant which is only 10 minutes away from camp.
Called “Zion’s Camp” it capitalizes on the Pageant experience and makes Camp Dittmer a major destination where we can celebrate friends, fun, and faith.
The need for this is apparent and the LDS community is raring to go! We are extremely excited to say that the sign-ups have been out of this world. We are looking at 400 scouts attending next year’s Zion’s Camp with troops coming from as far away as Virginia. That’s 3 to 5 times as many scouts as we have on a normal week. It’s awesome – it reminds me of the memorable experience I had as a staff member in 1994 when we had 450 campers for an LDS week (we’ve had only 2 such weeks at the Camp).
This will be a transformative event for Camp Dittmer, one that redefines its future and changes the type of programming and facilities that will be offered not only during Zion's Camp, but all “regular weeks” as well.
There is a lot of work that needs to be done – we will be working with various committees and work crews to address those needs up to (and beyond) the big event. If you’d like to volunteer to participate on any work crews, please email me at bob@conferplastics.com and I will your share info with the appropriate committees in charge of those tasks.
In the coming months and years we will address some of the items on our “wish list” that will become a definite “to-do” list because of this event and what comes from it….like re-opening Axoquenta and Kalutra, building shelters, launching an older boys program, making a family camping area and so much more.
Also, in late-winter I will be looking for some volunteers to augment our staffing for Zion's Camp. We will know more about who is needed and where at that time as the Church will be providing staff members as well.
I can’t say enough about how exciting this is. Camp Dittmer is a place I love dearly – it’s been a part of my life for almost 30 years now and a special camp that offers so much for our scouts. It will be awesome to see Camp at capacity, especially when shared with our friends from the Church who have never experienced Dittmer before. They'll be hooked!
I hope you have that same love for camp, too. It’s OUR camp – yours and mine. Let’s show it off next year, and make it EVERYONE’S camp, a true destination for troops from and outside of our Council.
