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In Minnesota last month, directors of a 50-year-old United Church of Christ camp, Pilgrim Point, voted to close after summer because of declining use and the collapse of financial markets, which slashed its income from endowments. Supporters hope to save the camp through fundraising, but its future is cloudy. Presbyterians in West Virginia this year formed a nonprofit group to support Bluestone Camp & Retreat, which also was threatened with closure. The situation is brighter at Lake Yale Baptist Conference Center, located in central Florida, but the camp is facing an operating deficit this year, said director Don Sawyer. "The economy is affecting everyone," said Sawyer, president of the Southern Baptist Camping Association. "The larger (camps) may have to do some cutbacks and find ways to streamline things, but I don't think they're in danger of closing." No one knew how bad things had gotten at Sumatanga until recently. A study that began last year after Murray's appointment revealed a $300,000 annual budget deficit and a 30 percent drop in visitors since 2000. When the economy worsened, both churches and other groups quit coming as often, making the situation worse. With a new business manager and the camp's first-ever marketing director in place, managers at Camp Sumatanga are trying to improve services, renovate facilities and increase reservations, particularly at its modern, 62-room retreat center. They're also overseeing a long-term capital campaign and an emergency fundraising drive that has brought in $125,000 just to keep the doors open beyond summer. "Every bit of money that comes in buys us a little more time," said marketing director Bart Styes, who is preparing to move to a job in a Birmingham-area church while searching for a replacement at the camp. "Ultimately this money is a Band-Aid; it's not fixing the problem. We've got to get more people here." Rebecca Anne Renshaw Brooks, 33, is pulling for the old camp. A resident now of Washington state, she grew up in Alabama and has fond memories of what it meant to her as a youth. "I was an outcast, a loner in school," she said. "But when you're at camp, it doesn't matter who you are, where you're from, what you look like, or anything else that plagues kids day to day. We all come together as one in that place." ___ On the Net: Camp Sumatanga: http://www.sumatanga.org/
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