By J.A. Dunn

LAKELAND — Mike Standifer and the Rev. David Baldridge said they did the right thing during a Conference Council on Ministries (CCOM) budget meeting last March when ministries were asked to trim more than $123,585 from the bottom line of a little more than $2 million.

Standifer, director of the CCOM summer camp ministry, and Baldridge, chairman of the summer camp team, voluntarily surrendered $100,000 from its conference subsidy of $223,400. Although $50,000 was returned to the ministry as scholarship money during the same meeting, there was only one way to recoup the remaining difference—increase the cost of summer camp.

Next summer one week at camp will cost $330, about a $69 increase over last year.

Standifer said giving up the budgeted money in good faith was the right thing to do. He said the increase in the cost of summer camp will allow summer camp to operate at its current level, as well as increase the wages of 90 summer camp team members for the first time in eight years and purchase new equipment, such as sailboats.

"Dave [Baldridge] and I talked about this before we did it," Standifer said. "We decided to just bite the bullet and do it. We have been blessed to have the numbers of campers that we do. We have been good stewards, and we just want people to know where the money is going."

Baldridge, pastor at Englewood United Methodist Church in the Sarasota District, said churches must do their part to make sure camp is available to children who want to attend.

"One of the greatest ministries we have in the Florida Conference is the summer camp ministry," Baldridge said. "The camp ministry team has worked hard to keep the costs as low as possible. It is not our intent or goal to make camp an exclusive ministry. We need churches to help share the burden of the increase in cost."

Heather Pancoast, assistant director of the summer camp ministry, said the team didn’t want to "nickel and dime" parents and churches with increases year after year. She said they agreed it was best if one significant increase was made.

"We anticipate there will be several years before there will have to be another increase," Pancoast said. "We just don’t want people and churches to think they can’t afford to send their children to camp. We don’t want to become a rich kids camp."

Pancoast said the 90 summer camp team members, who are high school and college students, will receive an increase in salary for their 10 weeks of service. The amount is still being discussed.

Team members serve as counselors working with the youth who attend camp. They have a variety of responsibilities, from being cabin camp counselors to leading activities to providing emotional and spiritual support to campers.

Standifer said 3,806 children from 296 conference churches attended camp during the summer, and he doesn’t want to see those numbers dwindle next year. He said there will be about $60,000 available in scholarship money.

"We are hoping that by educating people about the increase they will understand the increase in costs," he said. "We have been blessed by the number of campers we have year after year. We don’t want that to stop. We encourage people to explore camp scholarship opportunities."