I am married and have a son who I hope one day will be able to attend Bement as I did. I started at Junior camp after 5th grade and went all the way to Junior counselor, going into my senior year of high school in 2000. I was there during the last golden era of camp under Mark Rourke. I later came back for the summer of 2006. My husband was in Iraq and I was excited to be able to spend one more summer at Bement. I felt so close to God there. It really is Holy ground. There were very small numbers of campers that year. I remembered overflows into Holy Hill when I was a kid.

When I found out the Bement had closed I was shocked. I knew that there was a shortage of campers, and likely a shortage of money, but I had not heard a call for service, or a call for help from the diocese to the thousands of Bement alumni. I thought, there has to be something we can do. I started the "help reopen bement camp and conference center" facebook page and from there we blossomed into the BAA. Most people didn't know about the closing, and many still don't. I really want Bement to once again be a place where kids can go to be close to god, be comfortable in exploring their faith with their peers, and develop lasting relationships with their friends, new Bement family and God.