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September 2021 Newsletter

After 18 quiet months, it was good to once again hear the laughter of kids and families at Camp Otterbein. It was such a blessing to once again invite people back to "God's Backyard"! We're using what we learned over this past summer to continue to offer you safe and meaningful programs this fall and winter. Thank you for being a part of our Camp Otterbein community!
Summer Snapshot
Camp Otterbein is more than just a week of fun and games away from parents. It is an opportunity for campers to go on adventures that build confidence and self-esteem, belong as part of a loving Christian community, and develop and grow in their faith.

Summer 2021 may have looked different from any other, but those three values stayed the same. Here are some of the highlights from this summer:
  • Thanks to the hard work of campers, staff, and parents, we had zero known COVID-19 cases at Camp Otterbein this summer!
  • While at camp, 25 campers accepted Jesus as their Savior for the first time, 120 campers decided to read their bible more regularly, 31 campers felt a new call to love and serve others, and 52 campers felt a call to pursue ministry
  • Our events were at 91% capacity with 276 children, youth, and adults attending
  • Campers enjoyed many new activities this summer including fort building, geocaching, Legos, Dungeons & Dragons, and Tube Time on the lake!
  • 25 people attended our first-ever Family Camp for Clergy and Church Leaders
Thank You Pastors!
One of our values at Camp Otterbein is Faith Formation. Our Pastors of the Week (POW) play a vital role in helping campers develop and grow in their faith during their camp experience. POWs volunteer for a week at camp to lead sermons, have conversations with campers about their faith, and even help out with things like driving the bus and washing dishes! We are so thankful for our POWs!

Thank you to:
Joel Harbarger -- Monroe UMC
Susan Britton -- Heath UMC, Christ UMC-Newark
Jay Moyers -- Church of the Good Shepherd UMC
Nick Shaw -- Brice UMC
Angie Sherer -- Monfort Heights UMC
Dan Fuchs -- The Plains UMC
Doug Thompson -- Marietta Gilman UMC
Wendy Hansen-Smith -- Hopewell UMC-Franklin City
Save the Date
Winter Camp is scheduled for December 28-30, 2021. Join us for three days of hot chocolate, ice blocking, and worship!
The Camp Otterbein Fall Fest will be on Sunday, November 7 from 1-6pm. All are welcome, look for more information in our next newsletter!
Donor Spotlight
Thank you to all of the amazing donors that supported our picnic table fundraiser! With your generous donations we were able to purchase 16 heavy-duty picnic tables. These tables were a blessing this summer as they allowed us to serve all of our meals outside, an important part of our COVID-19 protocols. After summer they were moved to various program sites at camp so that they will continue to be a blessing into the future.

Thank you to:
Erin Kendall
Valerie D Willis
Grove City UMC Missions
Nancy Argabright
Church of the Saviour UMC
Dan Fuchs
Leesburg UMC
Karen Barwinski
Sheryl Hoffman
Katrine Henthorn
Thank You to Jim and Carol Waugh for their generous donation in honor of their 50th wedding anniversary! Jim and Carol encouraged their friends and family to make donations in their honor as an anniversary gift and made a matching donation of $5,000. Thanks to their generous support, over $11,000 was raised to build a second zipline at Camp Otterbein. 

Jim and Carol's Story:


"In the summer of 1968 following his freshman year at Otterbein College (University), Jim worked as a full-time counselor at Camp Otterbein near Logan, OH.  That summer Carol was leading vacation Bible schools in small rural churches for the Ohio Southeast Conference of the Evangelical United Brethren Church.

During one week near the end of the summer, Carol was asked to come to Camp Otterbein and to work as a counselor for an outpost camp.  These camps were not held in the cabins, but rather the campers and counselors stayed in platform tents and cooked their own meals. Jim was also assigned to work at the outpost camp.  During that week, we first had the opportunity to know each other.  Jim liked what he saw in Carol.  When they returned to Otterbein College in the fall, he asked Carol out, and the rest as they say, “is history.”
 
Camp Otterbein has always been a special place for us.  We both experienced the camp in 1963 during the first summer it was in operation for campers (no, we did not meet then).  We sent our daughters Lisa and Laura to camp there.  Our oldest daughter Lisa worked on the staff at the camp while she was in college.  Two years ago, Jim and our grandson Connor attended a “Father-Son” weekend camp at Camp Otterbein.  This summer our granddaughter Maddie has signed up to attend camp there as well.  So, the tradition and the connection continue."
Looking Ahead
We are excited to host our second ever Father-Son Retreat! This event is tentatively scheduled for January 2022. Keep an eye out for more details.
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Camp Otterbein · 15779 Cox Rd · Logan, OH 43138-8373 · USA

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