Haywood Association offers campers New Life

By Dianna L. Cagle

BR Asstant Managing Editor

Recreation time, as well as arts and crafts and other activities are built into a regular day of camp at Camp New Life. The camp, which is part of Haywood Baptist Association, provides nine weeks of day camp during the summer.

Contributed photo

For Robert Cooper, it has been exciting to see God work through Camp New Life in Waynesville.

Cooper, who just finished his seventh year as program director at the camp, started as a counselor.

Camp New Life's main focus is a summertime day camp - nine weeks which correspond with Haywood County Schools' break.

"What makes the summer day camp special is that we are really focused on evangelizing and discipline the children and their families," Cooper said.

A majority of the campers come most of the summer. Several years ago, the county school system did not receive grants to operate summer programs and parents were scrambling for options. The camp was granted permission to distribute flyers about its camp to local elementary and middle schools.

"What that means is that we get a lot of kids that don't come out of our churches," Cooper said.

Summer registration costs $30 and then $80 a week for rising kindergarteners to 8th graders.

Cooper said parents only pay for the weeks their child attends, and they don't have to notify the camp if a child is not coming. Scholarships are available.

"Everybody is in the pool every day," said Cooper, who also listed cabin devotions, chapel, music, arts and crafts, recreation, and nature trail as part of the daily routine. Cooper writes material for devotions and suggests ideas for arts and crafts.

Haywood County Schools provides lunch and one snack for the campers since a lot of them are on the free or reduced lunch program at the school. Area churches "pick up the remainder," Cooper said. The churches also help with chapel services.

Former 4-H camp

In the 1940s what is now Camp New Life was a 4-H camp and fell into disuse. It became part of a test farm for a state university.

Someone that rose to be the farm boss about 10 years ago was also a deacon at a local church and had the idea for the camp.

"Everything needed to be renovated," said Cooper.

The arrangement with the state brought everything up to code and Haywood Baptist Association has "control of the property," and allows associational churches to rent the facilities and outside groups.

Generally, groups or individuals who rent the property need a Baptist connection.

A request form is available through Haywood Association. A Camp New Life Committee will consider the request.

There are about 60 churches in the Haywood Baptist Association, and they totally renovated the 13 cabins - all named after trees.

"Now, whenever we have a need we check with the church that originally had it," he said.

The facility is usable year-round with space heaters in the cabins.

Of course, Cooper said, it is "mostly for the hardy because the bathhouses are rather rustic."

The lodge - which has a dining hall, kitchen and game room - has a heating system and has been used to host Christmas parties as well as other events. There are also two picnic shelters.

There are two bathhouses - one for the boys and one for the girls - near the 13 cabins. Cooper said they are in the process of building a third bathhouse, which would be near the softball field and pool area. Haywood association uses the field for a church softball league.

Cooper said he is available to work with out-of-town groups for retreats or mission trips. Through it all, Cooper said he strives to uphold the mission statement: "The purpose of Camp New Life is to assist our local churches and other Christian groups in bringing families in general, and young people in particular, into a closer relationship with Jesus Christ."