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Our Mission
The Mission of Camp Ondessonk is to provide an environment that inspires physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual growth for individuals and groups through the appreciation and stewardship of nature.
“Teaching What Matters Most”
Fall Newsletter
Volume 54, Issue 2
Non-Profit Org.U.S. Postage
PAIDOzark, IL
62972Permit No. 1
New Camping Services Director, Alissa HollmannBy Ondessonk Staff Alissa earned her Master’s Degree in Recreation Administration from Illinois State University and her Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from University of New Hampshire, Durham. She grew up in the Chicago area and attended YMCA Camp Echo as a kid - later returning as a counselor and ultimately serving as Wilderness Program Staff and Trip Guide. Alissa’s professional background includes over ten years of comprehensive experience covering nearly every area of the recreation and outdoor education field. Of note, she was Program Director and Resident Camp Director for the Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois. She was Illinois State University’s Coordinator of Outdoor Adventure Programs and Coordinator of Outdoor and Non-Credit Instructional Programs. Most recently, Alissa served as an Adjunct Instructor in the Health Education and Recreation Department at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. We are thrilled that she is now a member of our team. Please join us in welcoming Alissa. What is your favorite part of your job so far? Visiting during Friends Weekend was a lot of fun. It was really inspiring to see the community that is Camp Ondessonk. I loved talking to staff from this past summer as well as some “old-timers” who all had wonderful stories to tell and each had a little sparkle in their eye when they spoke. What was your first unexpected moment after arriving at Camp? The first time I went up to the stables in the morning, while the horses were being fed, was really neat. It’s so fun to hear them all chomping down at once. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Meagan helped to introduce me to all the horses. You can tell that she is very good at what she does. Are there any new programs you want to introduce at Camp? I was very influenced by having strong camp mentors during my teen years. I am interested in exploring additional teen programming that includes service and leadership development components in addition to on-site camp activities. What is your favorite camp memory? As a camper I always loved overnights. The adventure of sleeping out, night hikes, and making burgers over a fire was something that influenced me to pursue adventure trips and eventually a career in outdoor recreation. As a counselor, my favorite memories were always of the camp Olympics- similar to Marathon. I love getting the campers pumped up and creating new creative cheers every session. If you had any voice left after Olympics, it was apparent that you must not have been on the winning team. What are your hobbies? In my free time I will be found traveling by foot or bicycle on the trails with my dog, Abbey. I also love to cook and began canning last year, so I would love to have a small garden that would allow me to continue. I’m always looking for someone to join in a game of bocce ball or play a game of catch. What are your greatest accomplishments? Getting my IL EMT License; Riding my bicycle from Bryce Canyon, UT to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon- twice; Working with young people, introducing them to nature, and showing them that they can do anything.
DIOCESE OF BELLEVILLE
Our Vision
The Vision of Camp Ondessonk, a camp founded on the Catholic Faith, is to be the world’s best youth camp. Inspired by positive role models, campers will experience the wonders of God’s creation through adventurous, challenging activities in a unique, rustic environment.
2 www.ondessonk.com
Camp Ondessonk3760 Ondessonk RoadOzark, Illinois 62972
618-695-2489www.ondessonk.com
2014 Camp Ondessonk Board of DirectorsElizabeth M. Keserauskis,
PresidentAssistant Vice President and
Chief Marketing OfficerSt. Louis College of Pharmacy
Dr. Christopher Wangard, Vice President
Pediatric HospitalistSite Supervisor, Anderson
HospitalGlennon Care
Pediatric Associates
Tracy Beckham Phipps,SecretaryAttorney
Herzog Crebbs LLP
Tip BelzElectrician
IBEW - Local 309
Lynn FuhlerProject Administrator
Pond & Company – Architects, Engineers, Planners
Fr. John IffertPastor
St. Mary Parish, Mt. Vernon, IL
Kyle KluesStructural Design Engineer
Horner & Shifrin, Inc.
Cindy KnebelChief Financial OfficerHome Federal Savings
& Loan Association
Nora LandgrafAuditor
USPS Office of InspectorGeneral
Belinda Bauer-PankoffSpeech-Language Pathologist
– Retired
David ReadAssistant Vice President
of SalesHamilton Insurance Agency
Sara SimoninFoundation SpecialistEnterprise Holdings
Foundation
Joseph WernerBuilding Contractor
Joe Werner Construction
Thomas Young Sr.Farrier, self-employed
Ex Officio Trustees:
Most Reverend Edward K. Braxton,
Ph.D., S.T.D.Bishop
Diocese of Belleville
Very Rev. John W. McEvilly, V.G.
Vicar General / Moderatorof Curia
Diocese of Belleville
James V. Mroczkowski, CPAFinance Officer
Diocese of Belleville
Stable NewsBy Meagan Walters, Equestrian Director Campers, staff, and volunteers had a fantastic summer here at the Stables! Our new obstacle course was a big hit and we explored all of the trails. Camp then hosted a successful CHA Instructor Certification Clinic in both English and Western this past August. We continue to be busy with riding programs as we look forward to Road Scholars, scout groups, families, and school visits. Some of you may be seeing some new faces around the stables these days as well. Newcomers Chocolate and Dakota joined us late this summer, thanks to donor John Ball, and are promising new mounts. Our newest faces include Romeo (thanks Riannon) and Bruce, both of whom are excited to join the Ondessonk herd. Some of our trusty steeds are finding good homes to retire to as they age out of our program. As a result, we are looking for good new additions to keep our horse programs going strong! If you know anyone wanting to donate a horse please put them in contact with Meagan at Ondessonk Stables. Our herd has a great home, and the awesome job of teaching both kids and adults horsemanship and riding.
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THE LOYAL LODGEBy The Lodge Officials
Summer 2014 is surely one for the history books. Coming from a great school year of Lodge fundraisers, community events, and work project weekends at Ondessonk, the Lodges were ready for their Spring Lodge Reunion. As with our Fall Reunion, the Spring Reunion was hosted alongside the Spring Stable Round-up to allow multiple generations of Lodge members and dedicated Ondessonk volunteers to work together and get to know each other. For us Lodge Officials, this year-after-year dedication of the older generation of Lodge members sets the tone for our new members and truly embodies what the Lodges of Ondessonk and Tekakwitha believe in. The tone was set when one successful ceremony and Lodge induction repeatedly took place right after the first; setting us up for the best Lodge Camp ceremony we have ever seen. Lodge Camp featured the return of the ever-popular milk crate climbing, and beach party (yes, we remembered to include the slip-and-slide) from last summer, the reinstatement of some old classics such as tie-dying and the high challenge course, and the introduction of new activities such as the history of Lodge and Dutch oven bak-ing. We would like to take the time to thank all of those individuals that helped with Lodge Camp, as well as Lodge, in any way this past year. This support led to us induct 185 new Lodge members and allows us to continue doing the work we strive to do. With your support, the Lodges of Ondessonk and Tekakwitha can keep alive the ideals of love and respect for all persons for yet another 57 years. We look forward to seeing you all at Fall Lodge Reunion, September 26 -28! Heepwah! For information regarding Lodge, please email us at [email protected] or check out the website at http:/www.ondessonk.com/community/the-loyal-lodge/
Fall 2014 Outdoor Education Season By Greg Santen
The days are getting shorter, the nights are getting colder, and the 2014 Fall Outdoor Education staff is already deep into another busy season. We extended our program year earlier into the month of August which opened up opportunities to host more groups. Camp Ondessonk is blessed to be able to continue its mission of inspiring growth through nature year round to thousands of kids of all ages from across the region. Camp will be hosting many groups through-out the fall, including school groups, scout groups, spiritual and team-building retreats, and Road Scholars. Our school groups are the core of our program season; coming to us from Belleville, Evansville, St. Louis, Paducah, and the local area. Our new high challenge course and zip line continue to be a favorite for all visitors to Camp. We are also excited to be hosting nearly 40 Road Scholars from across the US and Canada who come to Camp for unique, intimate experiences exploring Southern Illinois on foot, on horse-back, or in a canoe. Our Specialty Weekends are always a great way to keep Camp in your life throughout the year and our Friends Weekend was a huge success this Labor Day, despite a little wet weather. Over 60 ladies joined us for our Mother-Daughter Weekend in September, and in October we are looking forward to Fall Family Camp and Fall Fest. The month of October will also see the return of two growing fall traditions at Camp Ondessonk. The 4th Annual Moccasin Gap Trail Run welcomes runners from across the country to test their endurance on the trails of the Shawnee with a newly-added half-marathon event. As if that wasn’t enough, outdoor athletes also have the opportunity to trade in their running shoes for bike pedals at the 10th Annual Southern Illinois Fat Tire Festival presented by the Bike Surgeon in O’Fallon, IL. But even with all the great events going on at Camp Ondessonk this fall, there are still plenty of chances to come to Camp for beautiful autumn solitude if you want to just get away, sleep in a treehouse, and enjoy the most beautiful place on Earth. Give us a call to reserve a unit for the weekend and bring the whole family!
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“How Lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard” – Winnie the PoohBy Brian Croft
Brian Croft, who served camp as Program Director and Camping Services Director during the last three years, said farewell to Ondessonk following summer camp. He and his wife, Denise, have moved to Bloomington, IN where Brian is now a Ph.D. candidate and Associate Instructor in the Recreation, Park, and Tourism Studies Department. On the day of his departure he shared the fol-lowing farewell message: What better way to say my goodbye than referencing a loveable bear; a concept well understood by the Ondessonk fam- i-ly. To put into words the thoughts, feelings, and emotions a person goes through when leaving Camp is nearly impossible; this feat would require a newsletter in itself. In my case, I am not only saying goodbye to a job, but also to a community of people that I feel lucky enough to now refer to as family. Also, I lose my house, so that makes it a little harder to stomach… In the “normal” world, a person finds a job and clocks in for his or her 8 hours of daily mandatory service. He or she comes home to lives filled with things completely unrelated to their work. They even have these things called weekends, where they just don’t show up to work at all… What’s that all about? I have friends from the “outside” and I can’t help but feel sorry for them (albeit sometimes jealous...) Camp requires so much more from its employees, but it also rewards each and every one of us in ways even we don’t understand at the time. Camp has become a home for my wife and me. We’ve celebrated three graduations, acquired our first washer and dryer together, and enjoyed several date nights
that ended with ice cream from the trading post. Though we are moving on, camp will stay here; a tes-tament to the thousands of people that have come before. Camp is more than place; it’s a collection of people’s hearts and love freely given knowing that the sacrifices they made have a life altering effect on each and everyone who crosses under camp’s gates. It has been my privilege to act as one of camp’s caretakers and I have no doubt that Camp will continue to grow under the current staff at camp. I’ve had the pleasure of working with so many incredible people whose devotion to the power of camp is truly inspiring. To all of you, I thank you for your guidance and friendship. I am a better person having known all of you. To say goodbye would be wrong, as I plan on staying a part of camp for a long time. I look forward to dropping off my children here one day, enjoying conversations about the good old days during Friend’s Weekend, and volunteering summer after summer. For now, there is no goodbye, only until we meet again.
Save the Date for A Night in Las Vegas! Ready for a night of fun and high rolling entertainment? Save the date – Saturday, March 7, 2015 – for the 2015 Gala and Benefit Auction, “A Night in Las Vegas!” The Camp O Strip will light up the Sheraton Four Points in Fairview Heights, Illinois. Patrons will enjoy a delicious dinner and silent auction followed by a lively verbal auction which will include some incredible items to bid on in addition to our Famous Cabin Fever. The party continues with live music and dancing until 12:30 a.m. Tickets ($75/
person) will go on sale after January 1, 2015. If you would like to make a do-nation for the auction, contact Louise McMinn at 618-210-7142. Watch for details in the mail and on Facebook!
Fol low Camp on
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CONNECT WITH USLIKE us on Facebookwww.kellsieshope.com
Gail Marchbanks, DirectorP.O. Box 331, Maryville, IL 62062
618-806-7459
Helping Kids With Cancer
“There is no place like HOPE”
Where are they now?By Ryan Brummer
Tyler Hohmann has been coming to Camp Ondessonk since he was just a tiny baby. His parents, Matt and Annette (Schefers) Hohmann, were both counselors in the 1980s, so Tyler was born into the Ondessonk family. Tyler was a camper from 2000-2005 and worked on staff from 2009-2011. Dur-ing his time as a camper he stayed in his favorite unit, Raganeau. As a staff member, he spent his days in the barn and on the maintenance crew. Tyler says he gained a lot from working at camp. His biggest gain was confidence in himself. When reflecting on that period of his life, Tyler said, “I was a shy and somewhat introverted individual. I couldn’t really do my job as a coun-selor effectively if I was insecure, so camp kind of pushed me from that shell and I’m happy it did.” Since his time working at Ondessonk, Tyler has finished up his Bachelors of Arts Degree at SIU-Car-bondale and has started his career in the film and television industry. He currently lives in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he works as a location scout. His job is to identify filming locations used for movies. Tyler has worked on films such as Gone Girl with David Fincher and Ben Affleck, Don’t Mess with Texas, with Reese Witherspoon, and Terminator 5. He is currently working on an ABC show, The Astronaut Wives Club, which premiers in January. Another fun fact about Tyler is that he was once on Wheel of Fortune and mentioned Camp Ondessonk during the telecast. Tyler still makes it back to Ondessonk once or twice a year to volunteer either at Stable Round-up or in maintenance during summer camp. According to Tyler, “Volunteering during summer camp is a great time!”
A Matching Gift Challenge to Kick Offour Year End Appeal To help us meet our goal of raising $150,000 by 12/31/14, Camp O’s 2014 Year End Appeal received a stellar kickoff with a $5,500 Matching Gift Challenge from Camp Ondessonk’s Board of Directors. To show their deep commitment to this goal, 100% of our board directors and our full-time staff have already made a gift to this year’s appeal. In addition, the Board of Directors has issued a $5,500 Matching Gift Challenge to support the drive. Every dollar donated between now and December 31, up to the fund total of $5,500, will have twice the impact on the lives our campers. With your gifts, Camp has the flexibility to help campers where it’s needed most – things like purchas-ing new program equipment, maintaining cabins and catwalks, vaccinating our horses, repairing the Camp road, and hundreds of other projects that keep Camp Ondessonk running smoothly. Our wildly-successful gala in 2o13 helped offset many of our expenses that year, but unfortunately this event only occurs biannually. That is why your gifts supporting the 2014 appeal – raising $150,000 – are so vital. For more information about the Matching Gift Challenge, contact Con-nie Lanaghan at [email protected]. To support the 2014 Year End Appeal and participate in the Matching Gift Challenge, visit Ondes-sonk.com and click on “Donate Now.”
Dear Ondessonk Friends, Thank you! We are pleased to report that summer camp 2014 was great by all measures. We had super campers, staff, programs, and weather. Another year of enrollment growth is behind us, as 2,740 campers made Ondessonk home throughout the course of nine weeks of summer camp. Thank you campers, parents, volun-teers, donors, and staff for making Ondessonk a life-giving priority. The progress of recent years positions us for a future of additional growth and improvements:
• Growth of our mini-camp program (8 - 10 year olds) has placed us in an exciting position. The units used for mini-campers each week of the last two summers, Lalande for girls and Tekakwitha for boys, are now needed to accommodate growth in our 10 - 15 year old traditional camp age-group. Therefore, we will soon build our first ever Mini-Camp Village. Our lead donors on the project, a couple that wish to remain unnamed for now, already made a very generous pledge. Additional support of all forms will be needed to complete the project by May 31, 2015 - the opening day of summer camp. Please consider getting involved.
• We get closer to retiring our dining hall debt with each passing month. April 2016, which seemed impossibly distant a few years ago, will be here soon. This is especially significant to our campers for many reasons. First and foremost, the operating dollars now devoted to debt service will soon be available for much needed facility & infrastructure improvements.
• Closely related to the point above, we will soon move from “dreaming about” to “planning for” a new shower house and bathroom facility to serve the west side of Lake Echon. We’ve known for years that our bathroom and shower house facilities must be improved in order to more adequately meet the modest expectations of our campers and year-round guests. For those of you that love them... Don’t worry, outhouses will still be a part of the Ondessonk tradition, though it will someday be possible to walk 10 minutes or less from any cabin to facilities with flushing toilets.
Again, thank you for participating in Camp Ondessonk. We are grateful to God and to you for making it possible to teach kids the things that matter most. Please keep camp in your life for your whole life.
Sincerely,
Dan King, Executive Director
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Letter from the Director
(618) 234-8981Fax (618) 355-4961417 Huntwood Rd.Swansea, IL 62226
Dusty’s VendingGreat snacks Great Service
Dusty LanterOWNER
Please join us for our
7www.ondessonk.com
Belleville, IL 394-6237SNOWS.ORG/REST
Facebook.com/SnowsShrine
NATIONAL SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF THE SNOWS
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Serving you is our pleasure!
Camp Ondessonk Ad.indd 1 8/1/14 11:32 AM
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Fax:(618) 526-8442
Home:(618) 588-2866
Telephone:(618) 973-8426 - Cell800-462-7096 - Office
Family Updates: • Ali Wild is marrying Luke Zammit in Milwaukee, WI September 27th.• Mary Coats graduated from Colorado State University with a masters in fashion and merchandising
and moved to Philadelphia for a job at Lilly Pulitzer.• Olivia Hammond is the new Program Coordinator at Camp Ondessonk.• Matt and Vanessa (Alvarez) Biver’s 4th son, Ezekiel TaeSoo Biver joined their family on March 8, 2014.• Megan (Hayes) and Joseph Hardy are expecting their 4th child in January.• John and Sarah (Cox) Laury had their third child, Jude, in June.• Rebecca Cler is marrying Jordan Lev in St. Louis, MO September 20th.• Caroline English is the Coordinator of Volunteer Engagement at the Chicago Architecture Foundation• Callie Kreidler married Jordan Wood in August.• Catherine English is marrying Nick Cagle in Springfield, IL December 20th and she received tenure as
a teacher in District 102!• Jacqueline Lintzenich got a job in forestry in South Carolina.• Megan (Bell) and AJ Jones welcomed their first, Brian, this spring.• Drew and Allison (Rohde) Newgent got married in April. • Jill Kunkel-Wiedman and her husband Mike welcomed their first, Grant, in January. • Kate Fogg Mays is the Executive Director for Cen-Tex Family Services, Inc. in Bastrop, Texas and
welcomed her 3rd child, James, in November. • Sarah Condic and Drewes van der Bleek got married in July.• Betsy (Smith) and Justin Stierwalt and their 4 kids now live in Leesburg, GA.• Keith and Jenn (Janson) Brennan adopted baby boy John last fall.• Courtney (Coe) Ostrowski got married last November.• Tyffany (Haas) Stevens is married with a baby in Washington.• Carrie Birge is the Director at the Johnson County Museum outside of Indianapolis. • Will and Laura (Beauchamp) Shelton had their first child, Charlotte, in May.• Bryan Hallengren is a designer for Greenridge Landscaping and Brooke Hagarty graduated in May
with a forestry degree.• Crystal Haas is engaged to Keith Tebbe and lives in Ohio.• Brett Korte finished law school and is doing Professional Education with the Environmental Law
Institute in Washington, DC.• Emma (O’Brien) Klues recently assumed the role of Communications Manager at Great Rivers
Greenway in St. Louis, MO. • Greg Mateyka, AKA “Kool Aid”, passed away on July 20th. Greg, a camper and CIT in the 1970s,
considered his days at camp to be the most joyful of his life.
Please join us for our
Golf Benefit Raises $30,000 for Camp Ondessonk “It’s all for the kids” was quoted more than “Fore!” at the 19th Annual Camp Ondessonk Golf Benefit, held on September 20, 2014 at the Roland Barkau Memorial Golf Course. Gorgeous weather, a competi-tive “Keep It In The Boat” contest, and generous donors made the a huge success, with 126 golfers and 95 sponsors participating. Hosted by Korte & Luitjohan Contractors Inc. and spearheaded by former Camp Ondessonk board member Pete Korte, this year’s net proceeds ---- totaling more than $30,000—went to the CampOndessonk’s Scholarship Fund, which provides tuition assistance to families in need, and to camping programs for the 2,700 children who attend camp every summer. As host of the annual tournament for 19 years, Pete Korte, assisted by Cheetah Horstmann, has raised more than $525,000 for Camp Ondessonk and the Scholarship Fund, an astonishing show ofsupport. The “Keep It In The Boat” contest provided serious competition as golfers tried to chip a ball into a boat anchored in the middle of a pond. Unbelievably, five golfers managed to keep their golf balls in the boat, winning $50 each. As always, the individual golfers and their teams were very generous, donating more than $3,200 in flight and contest prizes back to Camp. Special thanks to all the golfers, sponsors, donors and volunteers who made this golf benefit the most successful ever! Join us for next year’s 20th Anniversary Tournament, which will be held on September 12, 2015 at the Roland Memorial Golf Course in Okawville, IL. Heepwah to Pete Korte and the Korte Luitjohan team!
Golf benefit host Pete Korte (center) welcomes Jerry Gutzler (L) and Roger Kapp (R).
Ken Toennies, Don “Oscar” Meyer, Terry
“Turbo” Toennies, and
Shawn Arensten (L to R) of the
Trenton Knights of Columbus #2932 Team.
To enroll in the monthly giving program visit
Ondessonk.com/Giving/Donate-Nowor call 618.695.2489 for more information.
Monthly Giving Program
The safest, easiest way to support Camp Ondessonk.No Checks, No Stamps, No Worries!
$125 $10.42 $250 $20.83
$500 $41.67 $599* $46.58 $750 $62.50
$1,000 $83.33 $1,500 $125 $2,000 $208.33
$2,500 $208.33
$5,000 $416.67
Tinder Patron
Spark Patron
Flame Patron
Campfire Patron
St. Kateri TekakwithaPatronSt. Issac JoguesPatron
As a...Your Annual
Gift of:Is a Monthly
Gift of:
*Sends one child to Camp
How it works:• Regular donations made
in affordable monthly payments
• Pre-authorized checking or savings account (ACH) or credit cards
can be used
• Automatic transaction placed on the 19th of every month
• Increase, decrease, pause or stop as you go
• Cumulative tax receipt given at the end of the year
It’s Easy!Get Started
Today!
ONDESSONK SNAPSHOTS
Norah Cook and Patrick Moseley enjoying Labor Day Friends Weekend.
Camp Ondessonk Night at the Grizzlies.
Bryan Reaka honoring our original Ondessonk
Builders and Founders at the monument dedication
Thanks to our 180 volunteers for the
Spring 2014 Stable Round Up, Garden
Party, Preservation and Restoration
and Lodge Reunion.
