The Board of Girls Quest is ecstatic about running a camp session in August 2019 and fully returning to our mission. Finding our way back to our mission was not easy. Over the past seven years, the organization went through peaks and valleys. But through it all, a vision of young girls running through camp again and swimming in Silver Lake remained. Granted at times that vision was cloudy, but it never went away. Thank Goodness!
During the cloudy periods, Eileen Murphy, our Board President, kept the Board motivated and believing that we could run camp again. Eileen has always been the strongest cheerleader. At times her faith carried us through. She never lost sight of the mission and Camp Oh-Neh-Tah’s original shine.
In 2016, the Board made a strategic decision to strengthen our relationship with our Alumnae. I believe it was one of the best decisions we made. Bringing back Alumnae Weekends has been therapeutic. I think the property missed X chromosomes and could tell that Alumnae were visitors from the past. With some elbow grease and tender loving care, Camp Oh-Neh-Tah responded well and began to shake off the years of stillness and layers of dust and came back to life. It became welcoming again.
As we prepare for Camp 2019, memories that had been buried are coming back to the surface. Looking at old pictures and realizing the joy that Camp Oh-Neh-Tah brought to thousands of girls, fills our hearts with pride. Knowing that our efforts are about to impact another generation of young girls is extremely exciting and rewarding.
We’re blessed that we kept the faith, learned a few valuable lessons along the way, received generous donations that financed a part of Camp Oh-Neh-Tah’s facelift, and unearthed enough passion to keep everything moving in the right direction.
I send my “Thank You” to everyone who helped Girls Quest find our way back.