Bird River Bible Camp, northeast of Lac du Bonnet has started an ambitious project of replacing its dining hall.

The camp, owned by Southland Church in Steinbach, ministered to about 1,300 children this summer. Pastor Kris Duerksen explains their dining hall was more than 60 years old and showing signs of serious deterioration. He notes cinder blocks and 2x4s were being used in places to prop it up and the building contained mold.

"A lot of love and creativity went into keeping that thing going the last sixty years or so," says Duerksen.

The dining hall has now been demolished and Duerksen says it is a race against the clock to get the new structure in place before next camp season. He notes green space is very important to them and so they are building a two story, 30 foot structure in the exact spot, which will be home to a brand new dining hall and chapel.

"In the past, our chapel was on the other side of the camp from the dining hall," says Duerksen. "This is just a safer way."

He notes it also gives them extra space for the kids to play on rainy days.

Duerksen says this project will likely cost between $8.5 and $9 million, with the goal of paying it off in two to three years.

"Obviously, we're going to be running camp again next summer," says Duerksen. "We need to get it finished enough to have occupancy and to be able to use the building by the end of June."

Duerksen says this is a really exciting project because Southland Church loves kids and recognizes the value of summer camp. He notes they hear many testimonies each year and the most common thing that kids said this year is that they made new friends at camp. He adds kids, teenagers and even young adults often say they find belonging at Bird River Bible Camp.

Duerksen stresses their camp is not only for kids who attend Southland Church. He notes even though the camp fills extremely quickly, they always leave space for other kids to register who do not attend Southland.

Bird River Bible Camp dates back to 1952, when a man named Bill McLeod felt called to start a Bible camp in the Bird River area. That first year there were 30 campers sleeping in tents. Duerksen says about ten years ago, Southland was looking for a camp to send some kids in summer. At the time, Bird River Bible Camp was being run by the Baptist General Conference (BGC). Southland was able to partner with BGC for a few years until one day the Conference decided to gift the camp to Southland in order to carry on the work.

"They really felt our vision for what we were doing with our kids at the camp was the same as what they had for decades before and that we were set up to carry on that vision," recalls Duerksen. "One of the most generous acts ever, (they) gave us Bird River Bible Camp."

Since acquiring the camp, Duerksen says they have replaced a number of cabins which were very old. He notes it is important to them to be good stewards of the land and good neighbours.

"We have a lot of really good neighbours there that we really appreciate," he says. "We actually always put a lot of emphasis on we want to be good neighbours in that area."

(Drawings credit: Three Way Builders)