LYNDA BOTTCHER'S CAMP STORY:
I didn’t grow up with Camp Sumatanga the way many of you did. It was not until we moved to Oneonta and our children went to Summer Camp that I first saw and fell in love with Sumatanga. What a breath of fresh air!!! About the time the children went off to college, we moved to the Shoals, and this time the Walk to Emmaus brought us back to Camp. And the connection has never ended. As many of you also do, my late husband Bud and I have always called this place Holy Ground. In fact, whenever we would drive through the entrance, he would always say, “Pick up your feet! This is Holy Ground!”
Camp Sumatanga is like home. It seems that as soon as one arrives, all the stress of the world is swallowed up in the peace of this place. And because of that peace, it is so much easier to see and commune with its Creator. So many lives have been changed because the clamor of the world is erased by the nearness of the Creator.
I hope you feel the same way I do about Sumatanga. While its spirit endures, the physical aspect requires continuous TLC. If you haven’t been to Camp lately, you really should see for yourself what has been done under the leadership of Executive Director Tony Jones. With the help of some great Trustees, he has brought Sumatanga from just surviving to a place that we can begin to be called thriving! Your contribution to this effort, whatever the size, will ensure that this progress continues for coming generations. You’ll be so glad that you were part of it!