Kamp Kaleo Wisdom

Kamp Kaleo is the United Church of Christ Nebraska Conference/the Disciples of Christ Regional Outdoor Ministry Facility in Burwell, Nebraska.

Developmentally challenged persons do not come with a recipe card. We try this, we try that. Treat Adventures campers as you do everybody else, according to abilities.” – Jeannette Blaser

First, God is somebody who accepts and affirms us. It is okay to have limitations. – Jeanne Tyler

I admire AIC camper tenacity. Most believe that God is and that God is taking care of them. –Bob Brauninger

We get bogged down. They put things into perspective. AIC campers show us how to experience our world freely. –Ruth Albrecht

I see joy in their love for camp, each other, and the leadership. -Judie Luther

The first camp of the Kamp Kaleo season is Adventures in Community (AIC). Its name,
coined by Carl Burkhardt, a Disciples of Christ pastor, reflects the spirit of the thriving 25-year-old camp in the Nebraska Conference UCC/DOC outdoor ministry program near Burwell. Camp wisdom encourages local churches to offer the ministry of community from, for, and with developmentally challenged persons.

AIC campers feel welcome. Companion campers from our churches are not as interested
in structuring campers’ lives as in doing things with them. With two or three campers to one companion, all play together as family. Except for morning watch, which the chaplain does within several small groups, they follow regular camp schedule. Highlights include a sack lunch at the fish hatchery, contact with farm animals, fishing, crafts, skit night, and “The Dance.” The companion campers enjoy a chance to help someone else so the camp has a mission project.

“Campers learn that God is love by the love that is shown by others,” said Alice Ulch. “Bob Essig is always around. The guys love to go fishing at the lagoon with this caring and gentle man.”

A blind woman in Alice’s cabin was strong-minded enough to tell her how to guide. At
first she tried to guide by arm then found she could guide by speech. The woman’s
glow while explaining how she uses her cane changed camp attitude. “When somebody
does something good, everybody is happy about it,” said Ulch.

“Everything relating to God is tender and generic,” said Bob Brauninger, chaplain at
the first of two, four-day sessions. What he notices each camper can do enters his
prayers. “Campers teach us that God enables us to find a way to get through and to find
meaning in the process of our imperfections,” he continued.

AIC wisdom translates to local church ministry with developmentally disabled folk.

Practice the art of accepting, befriending, and meeting others where they are without
placing too many demands. Schoolteachers, trained to adapt to individual levels, can help
in leader training.

Involved with AIC from its genesis, Gwen Hurst-Anderson recalls a counselor who spent most of the camp patiently feeding “Marilyn.” Coming late one noon, she found Marilyn feeding herself. “We had difficulty understanding her speech,” said Gwen, “but figured out she was telling us it was easier (and more fun) to have the counselor feed her! Marilyn taught us not to underestimate campers’ abilities and to ask first what they need.”

Part of AIC success is camper selection. Those whom the camp fits best can get the
most out of it. “You never really know until the next year the impact you made,” said
Jeanette Blaser, retired school administrator. “That same person you wondered if even
cared they were here, returns, gives you a big hug, and says, ‘I couldn’t wait to get back.’”

AIC’s outreach brings companions not ordinarily at Kaleo. “The local church’s
mission,” said Judie Luther, Conference regional outdoor ministries and youth minister, “is to send a companion as well as pay tuition.”

“What we do best at this camp is create and nurture community and friendship among
people we might never meet otherwise,” said chaplain Jeanne Tyler. “In community
with each other, we experience strength that emerges from our prayers and songs, we
know acceptance that comes from knowledge, and we know compassion that longs for
justice.

“The power of community lies in its capacity to hold trust dear and to offer wholeness
and holiness. Instead of a sign of weakness, helping one another becomes a way of life,
a pilgrimage to wholeness/holiness. The whole of the community becomes that which
is holy.”

From UCC DM Newsletter Archive, written by Dee Brauninger