Brandon Bergey, Bethanybbc@vermontel.net
Bethany Birches Camp began in 1965 as a place for Vermont youth, particularly those who couldn’t afford an expensive camp experience and had little experience with church. Over the years, we have learned how to create an exceptionally authentic and exciting camp experience without passing the cost on to our campers.Volunteers and donors are the two groups of people that make this possible. I want to tell you about two volunteers, Margaret Campbell and Chad Yoder. Margaret attends Bethany Mennonite Church in Bridgewater Corners, Vt. and Chad attends Blooming Glen Mennonite in Blooming Glen, Pa. These two individuals represent a community of passion and love.Margaret Campbell’s involvement includes a visit from her at least once most every week to help with office tasks. During one such visit I asked her to help our board chair, Althea Derstine, scrub some floors. Margaret came dutifully, and she and Althea did a fantastic job. As Margaret wrote in our fall newsletter, she wasn’t only cleaning that day, she was “acting out this prayer given to us by Marian Wright Edelman:”
Lord, let us exile defeat, wrestle despair to the floor, throw apathy to the winds and feed depression to the hogs. Lord, help us to stand up and fight for our children.
Chad Yoder is another example of a person who has seen God moving and he cannot be silent. The past few years Chad has come along with other adults and young adults from Blooming Glen Mennonite Church to help prepare the facility to host 250 kids between the ages of 6–18. This group accomplishes maintenance projects and does necessary repairs. Last spring when he was here, he was somewhat frustrated with the lack of resources available to work with. He decided to find extra resources so that grounds and maintenance work would be more possible. Chad is now raising $25,000 with some help from others so that some new equipment can be bought for the camp.Our community extends far beyond Margaret and Chad and there are many other individuals and church groups involved. Souderton Mennonite Youth Fellowship (MYF) is one example. This group came to pave the way for two tree houses this past summer. Blooming Glen MYF is another example. They come back to camp continuously to help with many projects. Examples abound, including our Association members that give generously of their time to govern, help raise money through our annual auction and take care of the facility. There is no shortage of people living out their love for God in the wake of this world’s chaos.
What motivates a retired woman with two masters degrees involved in numerous organizations to scrub floors? Where does a family man who is developing a business find time to raise money and volunteer a long weekend to cut grass and fix buildings? What causes a youth group to spend a week of their summer doing hard physical labor or to return time and time again to sleep little and work hard?I am betting that it’s the same thing that enables a middle-school boy to make friends with another boy who just hit him in the face. This same spirit also allows a sexually abused 11 year-old girl to find comfort and safety. It’s something that is built into our being, this desire to give generously. I think we are motivated to do and be this way because of God’s unrelenting, tireless desire to show us love, to help us feel that we belong, at home with God.