From Cathy Barker:
At the Drum Brothers Rhythm Retreat Matthew Marsolek asked me to tell the story of Singing Waters Montana and Mimanagish. Here’s what I shared:
From 1932, the Congregational Church, later called the United Church of Christ, operated Camp Mimanagish. I have a long and deep history with this place, going back to my childhood and youth. My husband Dick Weaver was Camp Manager for three seasons. Since 2014 I’ve been leading Circle of Trust retreats here and attended other events as well.
In 2019 the Church body felt they couldn’t maintain Mimanagish anymore and recommended to sell it. I couldn’t imagine my life without this Camp, and this River, my spiritual home. I was moved – I don’t know how else to say it but that the Holy Spirit propelled me – to form a non-profit and buy it! I connected with dozens of former campers, we formed a Working Group and then a Board, and Singing Waters Montana (SWM) became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. We worked diligently raising money, mostly in small amounts through S’mores Parties and personal contacts.
At one point a Florida lawyer put money down with the intention to buy the Camp. This was devastating news! But Mimanagish is an Organizational Camp on U.S. Forest land, and needs to be owned by a nonprofit with a harmonious mission of bringing youth and underserved populations to the Forest. The Forest Service authorities turned down his plan in favor of ours. Whew! Ultimately we raised half a million dollars, some from family foundations, and our offer and plan were accepted. We closed on the property in mid-June 2021. Dick and I became the Co-Managers and served in that capacity through 2024, living at the Camp all summer and into the fall each year, and working with the SWM Board through the rest of the year on preparations and fundraising.
Now Singing Waters Montana has hired Robyn Hashman and her husband Lynn Ketchum to be the Co-Managers for Mimanagish, seeing to the smooth running of the Camp this summer. Robyn has assumed the relationships with our user groups, like Drum Brothers, and added some great new ones. Lynn has risen to the challenge of site maintenance with vigor and welcome expertise.
About half of our events are user groups, and Singing Waters MT creates the rest, seven events this year. My responsibility now is coordinating these events: recruiting leaders and supporting them in the planning. The SWM Board has grown and taken on many of the responsibilities I held at first, like Marketing. We’re all growing into our new roles as Singing Waters Montana moves from a baby startup to what – a toddler?! We learn – and stumble and get up – with hope and determination to make this organization strong and significant, to make the Camp safer and more appealing, and to bring all kinds of people here for fun and transformation!
I’ll be honest with you – this is our toughest year yet, with lower grants and donations and low registrations. SWM has everything in place for some awesome events, but we need more people and more support. We are grateful to everyone who takes an interest in Mimanagish and wants to see it flourish into the future!