Friendship Ventures! -- Snapshots of Friendship

Did you know that more than 80 percent of Minnesotans know at least one person with developmental disabilities? Or that Minnesotans’ attitudes toward people with developmental disabilities have changed significantly in the past 35 years?

We have much to celebrate in March, national Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. To mark the occasion, Friendship Ventures is alerting Minnesota media to the realities of living with developmental disabilities. We’re asking them to publish stories, air interviews or issue public service announcements on behalf of Friendship Ventures and those we serve. We believe it’s important to let people know that, despite the challenges, people with disabilities and their families can enjoy some of life’s finest treasures—a break from the routine with fun, friends, skill-building and great memories.

To underscore the message, we’re also unveiling our new tagline: where new friends and new experiences enrich lives. This tagline, appearing on Friendship Ventures news releases, brochures and other written materials, quickly conveys the value of our services.

Friendship Ventures works to generate awareness of the value and contributions of children, teens and adults with developmental disabilities year-round. During March especially, we salute our participants and embrace the diversity they bring to our lives and communities.

How you can help: Call your local newspaper, radio and TV stations and encourage them to help spread the word. Additional media kits are immediately available by calling 952.852.0101 or 800.450.8376.

Volunteering at Camp Changes Lives

The 2006 First Plymouth Church youth gathered at Camp Friendship for a group photo.

Every year, groups from churches, schools and other organizations spend months planning and fundraising for service trips near and far. Camp Friendship is fortunate to have been the destination for a youth group from First Plymouth Church, Lincoln, Neb., for seven years.

The longevity of the group’s commitment is due to the lasting value of the trip, according to First Plymouth Youth Director Rita Christensen. Members of the youth group spend a week at camp and then benefit in the following weeks, months and years from the life-changing experience.

Last summer, Christensen and 22 First Plymouth youth spent a week in August at camp, and another group plans to return for an eighth time this summer. “Their [the volunteers’] whole point of being at camp is to see what joy they can bring to others. They get more than they’ll give,” Christensen said. “This is service to the volunteer.”

Teen and young adult volunteers from First Plymouth and other groups work directly with campers, helping them fully participate in all the activities offered at camp, providing support and assistance and sharing in the fun.

Volunteers apparently like what they get out of the experience. Half of last year’s First Plymouth group were repeat volunteers. One of them, Derek Sell, 17, came to Camp Friendship with the First Plymouth group for his second week-long service experience in 2005 and ended up staying for three additional weeks. “I love the feeling of coming here and the sense of accomplishment of helping people out,” Sell said. In fact, he said he loves the experience so much that his summer job at an insurance company in Lincoln pales in comparison. “I would much rather come here and not get paid because of the experience you get here,” Sell said.

Sell is not the only one who has become attached to the camp after volunteering. Jinnohn Spellman, 17, came to Camp Friendship in 2004 and 2005 as part of First Plymouth youth group. Last year she came back to work as a counselor-in-training for the first five weeks of camp and then returned to volunteer with her youth group once again.

“I like the atmosphere here,” Spellman said. “I never would have gotten the chance to work with people with disabilities [if not for Camp Friendship].”

Every summer, volunteers like Spellman and Sell help out by not only lending their hands, but also their eyes and ears. They listen to the campers and see them for who they are beyond their disabilities. They talk to and play games with campers, help serve and feed them and ultimately show them they care.

“Everyone who’s brought a group here says they get a lot out of it. It’s an experience group members can share,” Friendship Ventures Volunteer Program Specialist Patrick Zant said. Last summer, nearly 200 young people volunteered for Friendship Ventures and about 71 percent of those were returning volunteers, Zant said.

For groups like the First Plymouth youth group, the great advantage of volunteering for Friendship Ventures is that volunteers can give whole-heartedly without worrying about other details. “All you have to arrange is transportation. I don’t have to arrange lodging or meals,” Christenson said. Volunteers enjoy three meals a day in the dining hall and spend their nights at Camp Friendship in the volunteer house.

“For a lot of our volunteers, this is a life-changing experience because they get to learn about themselves and about people with disabilities. Some of these teens are now talking about teaching special education,” Zant said. The experience also helps permanently deepen the level of understanding between volunteers and people with disabilities who they know away from camp or who they are sure to meet in the future.

Friendship Ventures welcomes groups and individuals who are looking to lend their hands and gain a greater perspective of those around them. To find out more about volunteer opportunities at all three sites, visit www.friendshipventures.org/vol/volunteer.html or call (952) 852-0101.

Farewell to an Old Friend

We at Friendship Ventures are saddened at the recent passing of longtime friend and volunteer Myra Prevost, Annandale. She was the primary cook at Camp Friendship for many of its early years. In that position, she saw the need for supplies and upgrades, but was limited by the budget of the small, relatively new Camp Friendship.

“Myra had a passion for her job and wanted to do it well,” noted current President and CEO Georgann Rumsey. “She saw a need to help our agency when she realized that the budget wouldn’t necessarily allow for purchasing items or making improvements to the kitchen.”

In response, she personally invited a group of women to form the Camp Friendship Auxiliary to help respond to the needs she identified. In 1975, the auxiliary began its work to support and assist Friendship Ventures. The auxiliary has conducted fund raising efforts on behalf of the agency, raising $75,000 over the years, purchased dozens of essential kitchen supplies and equipment, large and small and supported other needed projects. Members also help with office projects, managing large mailings of the Friendship Ventures newsletter and program information mailings throughout the year.

Myra was a tremendous friend to Camp Friendship during her lifetime. We are gratified that her family has chosen to direct memorials to Friendship Ventures as well as her church.

Swat Storms Camp Friendship, Using Site as Training Ground

With all the police cars and officers running around the buildings and grounds of Camp Friendship Monday, Feb. 26, clad in bullet-proof vests, one would have thought that something terrible was going down at the regularly pristine and serene site on Clearwater Lake.

In a life-like training exercise, a man acting as a fugitive fled police and barricaded himself in a building but was easily taken into custody by the Wright County Sheriff’s SWAT team after an extensive search. The team of about 15 to 20 officers practiced clearing and securing different areas of the camp, including office buildings, the laundry facility, the gymnasium and multiple living areas.

“We were able to train on how to take care of almost any kind of threat,” Wright County Sheriff’s Sgt. Michael Laurent said. “From large open areas in the gymnasium, to staircases, hallways with multiple offices, and even small living quarters and larger multiple person cabins, we were able to work on many techniques.”

The Sheriff’s department used some of the multiple buildings, cabins and grounds at Camp Friendship as a training area for its elite Emergency Response Team, or SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics).

“We are always looking for places to train,” said Laurent, who heads up the ERT for the sheriff’s department. “Camp Friendship has an excellent variety of buildings for us to practice in. We hope to come back once a year to use the facilities.”

Camp Friendship often hosts traditional conferences, reunions, retreat groups, and vacationers, and is open to working with groups who have unique needs, like the Wright County Sheriff Department. “Having them use our facilities benefits us too,” said Camp Friendship Conference and Retreat Director Bridgid Bowers. “They get to know our facility and, if they have to come back when we have a real emergency, they will already know their way around.”

The team trains quit a bit at the Annandale Tactical Training Center, but they are always on the lookout for schools, hospitals, treatment centers and business sites for training exercises. They also like to train in homes scheduled for demolition, Laurent said. “We train so it becomes second nature,” said Assistant Team Leader Deputy Jeff Herr, who is on the County’s Emergency Response Team, and who is also the police chief of Annandale. “We train the way we operate in the field. We get it right so when it’s the real thing no one gets hurt.”

Camp has always been a place for new skills and new opportunities, by making the site available to outside groups, Friendship Ventures benefits the wider community.

Thanks to Donors

Special thanks to these donors for their recent contributions to fund scholarships:

Donor advised fund of Martha Schneider
Blandin Foundation, Grand Rapids
United Way of Dodge County, Dodge Center
Wayzata Community Church, Wayzata
Albertville Lions Club
Ramsay Lions Club
Fridley Lions Club
Caring Rivers United Way, Elk River
UBS Financial Services, Wayzata, to match the donation of Ned Sorley

And thanks to donors who contributed for these special purposes:

Wayzata Community Church for a second donation for the Eden Wood renovation project

Albertville Lions Club to support Camp New Hope
Ramsay Lions Club to support Camp New Hope
Fridley Lions Club to support Camp New Hope

Thanks to all donors!

You Can Help:

To give a gift to children and adults with disabilities, Click to access our secure, on-line giving site. Your support will make all the difference in the world.

Friendship Ventures is a non-profit agency that creates unique educational, recreational and social opportunities for people of all ages with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities. We also offer conference and retreat services and professional team-building programs to the communities we serve. Friendship Ventures operates Camp Friendship near Annandale, MN, Eden Wood Center in Eden Prairie, MN and Camp New Hope near McGregor, MN.

Home · Conference/Retreat · Programs · Team Quest · Jobs · Lend a hand · About Us · Forms Library · Staff Alumni · Contact