by Sarah Werner, communications coordinator of Central District Conference (CDC) and Camp board member, and Jenna Liechty Martin, Camp Friedenswald executive director
This update was first published in the January 2025 issue of The Connector, a publication of Central District Conference.
Camp Friedenswald has been taking steps over the past six years to make camp a place where all who come to the peaceful woods feel welcomed and experience belonging, particularly those who have experienced social and systemic barriers in the past.
Our work has been multi-faceted, including adopting an inclusive hiring policy and welcome statement, training and education for staff, and renovating buildings and outdoor spaces with an eye to physical accessibility. We have also joined the Repair Network, an outgrowth of the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery, and made commitments to repair in our local context, including increasing education for campers and guests on Indigenous history. We have also become a member of the Supportive Communities Network, a program of the Brethren Mennonite Council for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Interests (BMC), and have taken action to welcome people who are LGBTQ+. Our work has also included reviewing our camper policies and procedures through the lens of inclusion, and increasing the amount of camper scholarships provided in order to remove financial barriers to participation in programs.
This work and more has been led and supported by the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) task force that includes both board members and camp staff. Since 2019, we have valued consulting with Nekeisha Alayna Alexis in her role as Intercultural Competency and Undoing Racism Coordinator at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS). Nekeisha has served as both “ally and agitator,” helping us to vision and dream and to set actionable goals. She most recently worked with us in the fall of 2024, meeting with the full board to offer training and support for the next steps in our journey.
Our most meaningful work to date has been to seek repair with BMC for an incident that happened in 2005, where they were disinvited from hosting their annual retreat at Camp Friedenswald. A process of reparative truth-telling began in 2022 and culminated in a narrative ritual of repair held at camp on Saturday, November 2, 2024 with members of BMC, CDC leadership, and the camp board and staff all participating.
While we share and celebrate the steps that we have taken to move us towards greater welcome and belonging, particularly for those facing systemic barriers to camp, we also recognize that we still have work to do. We are committed to ongoing learning and to taking steps that will help more people know true belonging at Camp Friedenswald. And as we do, we know that Camp Friedenswald will be a more vibrant and thriving place.