Director’s Corner

This is my third complete summer at Big Sandy Camp. Each summer seems to have a theme of seeing God at work. This summer’s theme was “Storms”. We had five thunderstorm warnings this summer and three of them blew through causing fairly significant damage. We have had more than 70 trees down, one on Oak Lodge that caused roof damage – Thank you Brian Hill for fixing it! Thank you to the tree team from Little Falls that drove in like knights in shining armor and cleared out camp of hundreds of branches and many fallen trees the morning after the June 23rd storm. They arrived mere hours before campers arrived and the grounds looked great come registration. We alerted those campers that power was out and to come expecting an adventure! We were told that we may be without power for days. The cheer that went off during supper that very night when power unexpectedly came on, much earlier than expected, was priceless! Two summer staff had cars smashed by trees, we lost all the decking on two of our docks and our guard boat was completely turned around and submerged in water. But let me tell you about the miracles! The guard boat motor, while badly beaten up, was JUST far enough out of the water that it didn’t flood and still works! The trees that came down in the second storm ALL missed cars and structures, sometimes only by inches and there was no major damage! The power was out to most residents around the lake, but power remained at camp! Our third storm, while significant to many around us, left us with only three trees down and a few branches on the ground. One of our favorite moments of the summer, was after the second storm. The guest group here had a prayer team of 40 students. When we radioed all the staff to help with storm clean up, we began knowing it would be a long day. Then we watched in wonder as the entire prayer team flooded outside to help us deal with the all the tree carnage. What would have taken our staff hours to clean up, was mostly done in 90 minutes. We hear it was also the highlight of the prayer team that week too! A big shout out to the summer staff and volunteers who became pros at storm clean up this summer!

God’s protection and provision this summer was evident in a powerful and meaningful way. We often get busy doing tasks and living life that we fail to see all the miracles and ways that God is at work all around us. This summer was a testimony of not only His power through storms, but how He is equally the presence with us in the storms, as well as the calmer of storms!

Rhonda Wynegar

Camp Director

We have a terrific team of people working at Big Sandy Camp and we want you to get to know them more, what they do and why they love BSC! Meet Jodi Clark Hey Friends!   My name is Jodi Clark and I am ecstatic to be the new Program Director at Big Sandy Camp! Big Sandy has had a special place in my heart since coming to family camp as a kid and being a camper in elementary school. I spent the last nine years teaching high school math in Princeton, MN and reconnected with Big Sandy in 2023 when I served as the Assistant Program Director for the summer. I had such a great experience that I came back for the summer of ‘24 as well! It’s been truly incredible to be a part of how God is working at BSC and I’m excited to have this full-time role to see what God will do next!   In my spare time, I like to go on walks with my dog, Pippa, listen to audio books, organize anything & everything I can, and get things checked off my never ending to-do lists! I also love spending time with family and friends, especially playing games & trying new foods!   Camp ministry has played a big role in my life. From being a camper, to volunteering as a counselor, to running program areas, I’ve loved it all! Making camp happen is one of the most rewarding roles there is and I’m truly thankful that God has opened this door for me to serve at Big Sandy Camp!

Major Project Opportunity We have a church that is planning to bring a crew of 20-30 people including 7 contractors to knock out some major projects around camp for a WEEK in mid October!!   We are looking for extra funds to put towards the materials of these projects. Acorn house siding – $1000 for misc. materials – siding is purchased Craft/Zip house roof replace – roofing material and dumpster – $3500ish Oak exterior chimney surround -$800 Bulging beach retaining wall – $5000 Lakeview bathrooms – first phase of renovation (more to come in 2026-27) – $4000 Replace doors on zip shack and boat shack Drywall repair and painting upstairs of lakeview – $1500 Prime and paint exterior doors – $500   We have willing hands, we just need funds to be able to complete these projects. Please consider an extra gift to camp in the next two months, so we can fund these projects and keep rebuilding camp for generations to come! CAMP WISH LIST! Check out our giving page to see our “Wish List!”   https://bigsandycamp.org/giving/   Several of you have been asking about a wish list to see things that camp needs to function even better. For those of you who like to give a tangible gift, please check out our wish list! We know some things on it are expensive, consider going in with others to raise the funds!