Another great year at the Episcopal Church Camp of Illinois is in the books! Campers enjoyed swimming in the pool and at the lake, along with kayaking, paddle boats, and fishing. Plenty of marshmallows were eaten (including some stolen by feisty wildlife!), camp games played, and tie-dye t-shirts made.
ECC hosted campers from within the diocese, from Chicagoland, and some campers hailed from as far away as Texas. This year’s spiritual directors were: for the juniors, Fr Ben Hankinson (Trinity, Mt Vernon), for the middlers, Fr Matthew C. Dallman (St Paul’s, Pekin and All Saints, Morton), and for the seniors, Fr James Muriuki (Church of the Reedemer, Cairo).
Bishop Martins visited camp for the annual “Bish-B-Q.” The Bishop and Brenda took a tour of the camp grounds, visited with campers, shared a meal with campers and staff, delivered by Sharon and Sheri Robinson (St Paul’s, Pekin), and topped off the day by celebrating a camp-wide Votive Mass “Of the Holy Eucharist” which included an interactive sermon in which he offered teaching about the Blessed Sacrament.
We are grateful for all the volunteer counselors and staff who make camp possible every year. Our gratitude is especially extended to Tate Chambers, director of the camp for many years, juniors coordinator Carol McCrary (St John’s, Centralia), middlers coordinator Lauren Acton, Katrina Honnold, coordinator for the seniors who travels all the way from Georgia to be at camp, and Joe Burklow, our Activities Director.
Counselors this year were:
Juniors: Jerry Phillips-Zee, Pete Matthews, Dante Anglin (St Michael’s, O’Fallon), Michael Machens, Emily Cole (St. John’s, Decatur), Maggie Dexter, Kayla Bragdon, Lauren Waight, and Kathy Scott.
Middlers: Barb Sherman (St Luke’s, Springfield), Lindsay Tomera (Christ the King, Normal), Michaela Hillen, Makena Brillhart, Sam Jefferey, Tertius Shelton, and Joey Vargas.
Seniors: Blair Hill, Janet Nicholas, and Don Bragdon.
Fr Matthew C. Dallman and Fr James Muriuki give Bishop Martins and Brenda a tour of East Bay Camp, which the diocese rents for Episcopal Church Camp each year.
For information on our Summer 2020 camp, watch this space, and both the diocesan and ECC Facebook pages.
