Camp Embarks on New Partnership

Collaboration and Rootedness: Camp Tamarack and Rawhide Partnership

This spring, Camp Tamarack and Rawhide have begun a new partnership with the re-roofing of the Basile Retreat Center.

This particular partnership started back in 1988 when Carolyn Scott (now Dugan) and Jeff Steffen attended Sr. High camp together and became lifelong friends. Fast forward 30 years when Carolyn becomes the Associate Regional Minister: Camping and Jeff is now a Case Manager working at Rawhide. They both saw the opportunity to help one another.

Rawhide works with troubled boys between the ages of 13-17 as well as their families in a faith-based environment. One of the goals of the community service program implemented throughout the state is for the youth to learn real world skills, such as roofing, in order to help them transition into the work force when the time comes. At Camp, we have had several different youth come along with their foremen to learn the process of taking off a roof and all the steps to put on tar paper, flashing, and shingles. Kim Drost has been overseeing the on-site work and said that it has been fun to watch the boys grow in confidence– even learning to get up on the roof from the ladder, plus using the tools and techniques involved with the project.

If the project of the Basile roof progresses well, there could be more in the future for this collaboration as there is always work to do at Camp.

This type of partnership and collaboration has been rooted in previous generations of camp leaders looking to live in to the value of this space being a safe place for people to grow in their life and faith. In the 1960’s there was a program called Juvenile Camp where youth came to camp for 2 weeks at a time. Carmen Porco, the Executive Director/CEO of Housing Ministries of American Baptists in WI wrote “This set the pathway for continued ministering to youth that have encountered trauma and as a result find themselves in trouble, alone and dependent on the street as their educational institution. The camp experience provides a relief from the streets and entrance into a structured programmatic development.Their is great merit in Nature being the place to solidify ones soul development with a structured program.”

If you, or your organization, is interested in partnering with or supporting Rawhide, please take a look at their website: http://www.rawhide.org/about-rawhide/  You can also let Carolyn know your interest and she can get you contact information.