Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
NORTH WEBSTER - Although it is the middle of winter, the work at Camp Good News, off Backwater Road, continues.
It continues with a new director, Dean Hunsucker.
It continues with another purpose - providing a place for homeless men to find work.
Good News Ministries, based in Indianapolis, purchased the 42-acre campground four years ago. The organization provides a free camp to disadvantaged children from Kosciusko and neighboring counties during the summer. The young campers are associated with boys and girls clubs, churches and other organizations.
"When people hear free camp, they come running," Hunsucker said. When the young campers aren't in residence, Good News Ministries offers rehabilitation camp to a select group of men. They come from the organization's men's rescue mission in Indianapolis and must be alcohol- and drug-free. They make improvements to the camp during the off-season months as they work to improve themselves.
The current project is to replace 120 beds, 12 in each of the 10 cabins, with wooden frames. The old bunks are constructed of canvas tied to a pipe frame, suspended by chains from the ceilings and walls. Some of the bottom bunks were propped up with cinder blocks for support.
"Last year a kid put his suitcase on his bed and it fell right through the canvas," Hunsucker said. "This project helps the kids and it helps the men work on something. They're up at 7 a.m., an unusual experience for men used to living on the street or under a bridge."
To fund the bunk bed project, GNM is accepting donated vehicles. The value of the car is tax deductible. It does not matter if the vehicles run or not.
Hunsucker said one man at the camp is a master mechanic, who, because of a fondness for alcohol, didn't show up for regular work on a daily basis.
"He hasn't had a drink in a year. If a vehicle doesn't run, he'll fix it," Hunsucker said.
Once the vehicle is operational, Hunsucker resells it for $200 to $1,000.
"All the car sales money goes back into the bunk beds. Our goal is to build and install all 60 sets of new beds before the camping season begins in May. About $6,500 is needed to complete the project," he said.
Last year, 525 children came to the campgrounds, where the ratio of counselors to campers is 1-to-5. Some children return for leadership camp, two weeks in August, where each child is paired with a counselor.
Each summer there is a victory, a child or incident Hunsucker can't forget. Last summer a concerned mother called about her 10-year-old girl, who would not talk, who had not talked in years, except to occasionally mumble "yes" or "no."
"I didn't do anything when the little girl arrived. I didn't advise the counselors that we had a 'special' child with us that week," Hunsucker said. "The first night she was talking to her counselor. The second day we couldn't shut her up."
The mother called to see if we wanted her to come and pick up her uncommunicative daughter. We said she was talking. The mother started crying and asked us to put her daughter on the telephone. She said, 'I want to hear what her voice sounds like.'"
For more information, Hunsucker can be reached at the camp office, 574-834-1200, or on his cell phone, 574-265-4296.
On the Net: www.campgoodnews.com
