Camas Meadows Bible Camp offers summer fun for all kids

With a return to normality post-covid this year, Camas Meadows Bible Camp has offered overnight summer camps for kids entering 4^th grade through senior year up in the mountains of Blewett Pass at 3000 Camas Creek Rd, 98815. Their mission is to be a non-profit, non-denominational Christian camp based on 1 Peter 5:7.

That verse reads: “Casting all our cares on him, fore He cares for us.”

After two years surviving covid, many feel they have nothing but worries that they want to get rid of.  There are a few covid restrictions in place still at camp this year but much more activities are allowed this year compared to last, said Kristen Joy Wilks, granddaughter of the camp founders and wife of the current camp director.

The precautions that remain are asking campers to take their temperature before they come to camp, taking campers temperature daily, giving rapid antigen tests to campers who feel sick and sending home sick campers, Joy Wilks said. Even if a camper does not have covid but is sick, they can still be sent home based on the medical staff’s decision. Before campers can be picked up to go home, they will be sent to an isolation cabin.

“It is refreshing to have it not be as tricky as it was last year, although it was wonderful to be able to run camp last year even with all of the rules that we had to go through,” Joy Wilks said. “Things are back to mostly normal. We are definitely more germ conscious then we were before permanently…I enjoyed doing so much outdoor activities when we were under covid guidelines and so I think we probably do a few more outdoor activities now than we used to.”

Some games that were previously done inside, like chair ball, while other outdoor games, like gaga ball, are entirely new games, Joy Wilks said. Worship had to be outdoors last year and this year it is both indoors and outdoors, she said. Other fun activities include the slip and slide, dunk tank, wading at the pond, horseback riding and meadow games.

Although the camp has traditionally gone to Lake Chelan, they cannot find a driver to get their bus to the lake, so they go to the pond in the meadow instead, Joy Wilks says. The bus the camp has is manual, not automatic, so it is more difficult to find drivers.

Camp Director Daryl Wilks, known as “Scruffy” at camp (every staff member gets a camp nickname when they become staff) didn’t start out his life as a Christian but today he finds himself the director of a Christian camp.

“I was actually opposed to Christianity,” Scruffy said. “And I think that my problems weren’t so much with Jesus but more with what I saw…I did grow up with some struggles and some trauma and pain of my own.”

Eventually, Scruffy met Christians who truly lived their beliefs and eventually converted. Although the camp is religious, Scruffy said it is still a place for kids with any faith, no faith, or no current want to convert to a faith. He said camp is good place for healthy relationships, for people to ask tough questions and to learn to disagree.

“I’m encouraged to believe that we have long term viability as a place where families are going to continue to need places for kids to go to disconnect from a world that is increasingly digital,” Scruffy said.

One of the most popular night games at camp is Mission Impossible, Scruffy said. In the game mission impossible, campers start at the lodge and must find the final destination in the forest without being seen and caught by “agents”, who are counselors playing a part, he said. Once campers reach the final destination, they get a card they can go back to the lodge with for cabin points.

Various events all week score points for each cabin, resulting in a competition with a winning cabin each week.  While trying to earn points can get competitive, the camp tries to make sure to facilitate a friendly atmosphere of competition, which staff are trained to do, Scruffy said.

The food at the camp is “wonderful and delicious” Joy Wilks said. Three meals, a night snack, and a sweet canteen treat are served every day at camp. Just like a variety of food is served at camp, camp is for a variety of people. Most of the day is general camp activities, not religious ones, Joy Wilks said. Plenty of non-religious kids enjoy their time at camp and camp is important for kids’ development, she said.