Please check with your church for possible camp scholarships.
If you are in need of a camp scholarship, please call 217-939-9706 to check availability.
Camping Scholarships for Schuyler County Kids
(Article from the Rushville Times 4/24/19)
An $800 yearly scholarship fund in memory of Ken and Lea Freeman is being established by their children, Keatra Smith and Gretchen Forsythe. Smith comments, “Living on a dairy farm and raising their family in Schuyler County was a dream come true for Dad and Mom.”
Lea Freeman (Walters) was Director of the H.E.L.P. Center and spent generations working with Schuyler County youth and families. Forsythe says, “Creating a fund of eight $100 scholarships for Schuyler County children from ages 7 to 17 years old to attend Jensen Woods Camp is living memorial to our parents. Seeing future generations of Schuyler County kids get a chance to enjoy, learn and discover nature on this 550-acre, non-denominational, Christian camp continues our parents lifelong commitment to Schuyler County youth.”
“Since the camp’s creation in the 1960s by a gift of land from a Brown County farm family, many Schuyler County residents and churches have been instrumental in developing and using Jensen Woods,” states Forsythe. The camp was closed for three years and purchased in August 2018 by Jensen Camp Foundation, a not-for-profit, 501C3 group of Schuyler, Brown and Adams County supporters. Raising a half million dollars in five months, the group was able to save the camp from destruction by bulldozers. The upcoming camping season will be the first at Jensen Woods since 2015.
To register for the Freeman Scholarship, any Schuyler County youth or family can register on line at jensenwoodscamp.com or call (217) 773-2491.
The 2019 camping season at Jensen Woods runs from June 10 through July 19. Three- and six-day camps available include: Treehouse, Survivor, Riders 1,2 and 3, Girl’s Treehouse, Nature Explorer, Splash, Night Owl, Archery, Counselor in Training (CIT) and Wrangler in Training (WIT). Scholarships can also be used for Family Camp (July 4-6) or Mother/Daughter Camp (June 28-30). Prices for each camp vary from $125 for 3-day and two people attending Family or Mother/Daughter Camp and 6-day camps at $250 to $350.
The daughters of Ken and Lea Freeman urge all those who want to create a living legacy in memory of someone special to consider sending a child to camp. “As an adult, I can now see that Mom and Dad sacrificed greatly to send me to camp,” says Gretchen Forsythe, who credits her seven years at summer camp with changing her life. “Investing in the future of a Schuyler County child will change their lives and bring you unbelievable joy.” ffff