Mennonite Weekly Review

NORTH NEWTON, Kan. — Camp Mennoscah recently added 80 acres to its land near Kingman, including about 40 acres of farmland, several buildings and a woodsy area ideal for trails.

Isaac Entz and Michael Unruh gather with children at a dam on the Ninnescah River, which lends part of its name to Camp Mennoscah and offers campers water activities and entertainment. — Photo by Aaron Dyck

Western District Conference of Mennonite Church USA, which owns Camp Mennoscah, purchased the tract of land adjacent to the camp’s existing 160 acres for $190,000.

“This is the first house and outbuildings campers drive past after they turn off the hard-surface road,” said Dorothy Nickel Friesen, conference minister. “We now have a private entrance to the camp… . Its addition ensures safety for our campers, more retreat options and possible garden and nature settings.”

Plans for the new land are still up in the air, according to Valerie Klaassen of Whitewater, who chairs the seven-member Retreat Commission, which determines camp priorities. Possibilities for a house on the land include a welcome center, retreat or nature center, or volunteer housing.

Western District Conference purchased the land using camp savings and through a loan from the conference’s Revolving Loan Fund. It didn’t have to use funds from its Vision 2012 campaign.

Since the beginning of the campaign in 2006, the camp has received more than $651,000.

“Some of our other big projects were already taken care of through the campaign,” Friesen said. “The security of knowing that we already had $600,000 to 800,000 through Vision 2012 allowed us to buy the land.”

The goal of $810,000 for the conference’s camping ministry has not yet been reached, Friesen said. Twenty months remain until the end of the giving campaign, and she’s confident constituents will give generously.

“Vision 2012 has allowed three things to happen: long-term planning for the camp’s programs and physical plant as well as much-needed improvements to buildings and grounds and a broadening of its missional resources to allow more people to benefit from the ministry of Christian camping,” Friesen said.

Olivia Bartel, camp director, said Vision 2012’s non-camping projects have also strengthened Camp Mennoscah.