“Most camps make up a menu, then go and buy the groceries,” Shirley continued. “For this one, we bought a few things to start with (there was very little money). Then, when we saw what food was donated, we knew what our menu would be. It was wonderful to see how the Lord supplied through the people around Lac La Biche. Some of the kids paid their $5 camp fee which helped to buy sugar, macaroni and such.” 

       One lady, Caroline Guinard, left her busy farm schedule to come to camp and cook year after year. Her husband, Andy, donated meat to the camp.

        In the early years, the Jacksons tried to devise a fair plan that would let kids come to camp even if their parents were unable or unwilling to pay the $5 fee. One way was to let the kids learn a bunch of Bible verses. Another was to have them promise to do some extra work around camp. But this last one didn’t work very well.

“All of the staff worked very hard during those years,” Shirley recalled. “I remember especially the year our son Stan was three months old. I taught, helped in the kitchen, looked after the baby, and tried to keep track of our other three preschool boys. We were short of a counselor for a cabin of teenage girls so I slept there at nights. I would feed the baby last thing at night, leave a bottle with Bill to  feed Stan through the night, then go to the cabin. In the morning, after waking the girls, I would run back to feed the baby again and get the other three ready for breakfast. It was pretty hectic. As I look back now, I thank the Lord for the strength He gave for what needed to be done.” 

          In 1967, the-camp was moved to the campus of the Key-Way-Tin Bible Institute, where the Jacksons lived at that time. The facilities there were much better. 

          Shirley also recounted how, one memorable night, there was a rainstorm and high winds. The meeting place was now a 60 foot long wooden frame covered with a big tarp. It looked like the wind was going to take the canvas so everybody, campers and staff, held on to the ropes along the side. Bill was telling the kids, “If it starts to lift you up, let it go!” 

          The smallest boys were in a tent that came down in the wind. It was raining and dark, so there was no thought of putting the tent up again that night. Instead, Bill took the boys into the Jacksons’ living room to sleep. For that one night, their room was richly carpeted with “wall-to-wall” boys.

Camp dining room under the trees.

Tire races, last day of camp.