February 1, 2016
Story by Brandon Steinert
Sen. Bob Dole donated $20,000 to Camp Hope, a weeklong getaway for children with cancer held at Camp Aldrich. The funds are to be used for the benefit of Camp Hope. The Camp Aldrich Dining and Events Center burned down in April of 2014, which was Camp Hope’s preferred venue.
“We are so grateful to Senator Dole for his generous contribution,” said Nancy Wiebe, Executive Director of Institutional Advancement at the Barton Foundation. “This gift will allow Camp Hope to replace items at Camp Aldrich destroyed by the fire and to add new enhancements to serve the children.”
The Camp Aldrich Dining and Events Center is scheduled to be reopened to the public in April of 2016.
Some key features of the new and improved facility include the following:
- 25 percent larger indoor space upstairs.
- Lower level is two times larger.
- High efficiency heating, cooling and operation.
- Elevator and other ADA compliance upgrades.
- Restrooms on both levels.
- Outdoor patio.
- Medical facilities for Camp Hope participants.
Barton Foundation Clay Shoot to return in 2016
The annual Barton Foundation Sporting Clay Shoot fundraiser was rescheduled to April 17, 2016. Many sponsors who planned to be a part of the event in 2014 before the fire elected not to receive a refund in order to sponsor the event when it returns.
The clay shoot scheduled for April 2014 would have been the seventh annual lay shoot sponsored by the Foundation. In only seven years, the shoot had already become one of the premier clay shooting events in the state and also one of the largest, said Coleen Cape, Coordinator of Fundraising and Special Events at the Barton Foundation.
The 2014 event would have been the first held at Camp Aldrich. Cape said there were two reasons Camp Aldrich was chosen as the venue: the camp belongs to the college and the Foundation wanted the opportunity to show it off and promote its many uses to the public, and the layout and rustic wooded geography of the camp would make for a challenging and enjoyable shoot.
Following the fire, several other venues and locations were scouted and each one was found lacking in some way to meet the event’s needs.
“Instead of forging ahead and holding a sub-standard event, it was decided by the Foundation Board of Directors to hold off and plan the event at Camp Aldrich for April 17, 2016,” Cape said. “This event promises to be bigger and better than ever and we are thankful to all of our donors for hanging in there with us.”