Silver Lake Camp holds sacred send-off: tears and hugs abound as thoughts turn toward the future

The Book of Ecclesiastes tells us that to everything there is a season: a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.

On Aug. 22, more than 500 former campers, counselors and friends of Silver Lake Camp & Retreat Center in Sharon, Connecticut, came to laugh and dance amid their tears and grief.

They came to give a camp that has meant so much to them a sacred send-off. Some came as far as North Carolina and Virginia to remember and rejoice.

Sister camp, Horton Center in Gorham, New Hampshire, surrounded Silver Lake literally with prayers, creating prayer flags that were hung up in the dining hall at the start of the camp season. The Rev. Gordon Rankin, Conference Minister of the New Hampshire Conference, said it was their way of showing their Connecticut siblings their love and support.

Last November, the Southern New England Conference announced it would no longer support summer programming of the UCC camp which opened its doors in 1957, the same year the UCC was formed.

Like many camps across the country, Silver Lake has been facing the challenges of a changing world. In 2024, the camp reported an operational deficit of $355,000 and campership was down to 250.

UCC communicator, Donna Frischknecht Jackson, reports on the hopes, the dreams, and the prayers that many have for the camp’s future.

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