22 April 2020

As Metigoshe Ministries continues to monitor developments locally – and beyond – we have taken the decision to extend the closure of our retreat center – canceling all retreats – through May 15. Our guests’ health – along with that of our staff – remains our top priority and we will continue to stay on top of developments and make decisions as the situation changes.

Decisions relating to our retreat ministry will continue to be updated every two weeks. Because of the added level of complexity, our summer camp schedule needs decisions to be made with a bit more advance warning.

Because of that, we have made the decision to alter our summer camp “start date” for staff training. We have pushed that date back by two weeks, and our new – tentative – staff training start date will be June 1. We are calling it a tentative start date, because we realize that further adjustments may still need to be made.

With the adjusted start date, this also means we know that “All Day Camps Week” (May 25-29) and Week One of on-site programming at Camp Metigoshe (June 7-12) will not be able to take place as scheduled. We have begun to contact congregations and families affected by this change.

We are working diligently to prepare an updated summer camp schedule that will allow us to keep as many of our programs “on schedule” as possible. That updated schedule will be shared as soon as we are able – and personal contact will be made to anyone with a registration that is impacted.

As a reminder, we have made a couple of updates to summer camp registration in order to help calm anxieties about what is to come:

• Our “Early Bird Discount” deadline has been extended until May 1^st
• For the 2020 camp season, we will suspend our “non-refundable deposit” policy. Because of the uncertainties caused by COVID-19 all camp registration deposits & fees will be fully refundable should your child not be able to come to camp.

We will remain in regular contact with retreaters and summer camp registrants and update you whenever we have something new to share. Please keep Camp Metigoshe staff in your prayers – I can assure you they are going “the extra mile” to create multiple alternative “back-up” plans to make sure that Adventure Anchored in Christ will take place in the best and safest way possible this year!

Finally, we continue to share regular “Camp Connections” on our Camp Metigoshe Facebook page. If you are in need of fun and faith-filled activities to do with your family – or on your own – you’ll find devotions, arts & crafts ideas, and so much more! And every Friday we are hosting a summer camp-style “Virtual Koiny” worship at 10 a.m. (the video will stay online if you’re not able to join us live).

Anchored in Christ,

Rev. Jon Halvorson
Executive Director