Dear Friends of Manidokan,
It has been a wonderful year of ministry and transition here at camp. 2023 marked our return to eating in the Dining Hall for summer camp, an increase in guest group usage, several facilities upgrades, and our new Director’s first full year at Manidokan. We are incredibly blessed by the support of our volunteers and the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the UMC as we endeavor together to be a place that grows disciples of Jesus Christ through immersion in Christian community and builds relationships in the midst of God’s creation.
Over the course of 7 weeks, Manidokan served 198 children and youth through our summer camp program. Filled with outdoor adventure, river trips, pool swims, new friends, Christian community, and meaningful worship we are so thankful to everyone who helped make this possible. Providing a high-quality summer camp experience is the very core of our mission and we are blessed by everyone who has contributed their time, gifts, and talents towards camp. Our volunteers and staff worked hard to fill the gap created by the lack of a Program Director and we are incredibly grateful to both Nikki Zimmerman and Victoria Pannullo, longtime summer staff, who both served as Summer Program Directors. As we look to Summer Camp 2024, we have several exciting additions that we are looking forward to implementing.
Around camp, we’ve been busy making improvements to better serve our guests and visitors. We used our Giving Tuesday 2022 donations to completely rebuild our Campfire Hill stage and seating area to function better as a large group gathering area. Cabin 5, our Chaplain’s Apartment, was renovated to be a more welcoming and inviting space for clergy retreats and other guests. We installed two new water fountains with bottle fillers in the Dining Hall and upgraded exterior lighting around camp to make it easier to navigate in the dark. In the spring, we added new traverses to our existing Aerial Park and loved watching campers navigate those new challenges this summer. We’ve also done some “not as exciting” but very important (and expensive!) maintenance projects, including a new ice maker for the kitchen, a new HVAC system for Serenity Lodge, fire suppression system safety upgrades in the lodges, and water system improvements. As we look to 2024, we are hoping to resurface our climbing wall with new holds and make several low ropes course repairs. We are still working to secure funding for these projects and would love your support as we work towards this goal.
Manidokan is ending the year with the return of Winter Camp (December 16-17) and is looking forward to having campers and staff return to this holy and sacred space to celebrate the birth of Christ in the best way that we know how—by spending time together in community learning, playing, and loving each other well. As we close out 2023 and look to 2024, it is our prayer that you find peace, love, joy, and hope as you ponder all the ways in which God has been at work in and around you.
Merry Christmas from the Staff of Manidokan Camp & Retreat Center!
Meredith Petty, Director
Steve Lane, Assistant Director & Maintenance Director
Jason Rhoads, Food Services Director
