Les Jones

East Tennessee > Good News for Camp Montvale

It was announced this week that the Harmony Group will purchase Camp Montvale's land from the YMCA, then lease the subset of land for the camp back to Friends of Camp Montvale, the impromptu non-profit that formed when it became clear that the Y was going to sell the camp. In return for the lease arrangement, the Harmony Group is getting concessions on land use from Blount County.

This is excellent news. The camp has been saved from bulldozers. As much as I want to celebrate, this was only the first step. The next step is revitalizing Montvale.

As part of those efforts Montvale will need money. The camp has new cabins, a renovated dining hall, and renovated residences for the caretaker and director. Meanwhile, the rest of the buildings and infrastructure are the same or worse as they were nearly three decades ago when I showed up at camp for the first time.

At the December reunion I learned that for the last few years they were unable to fill up the camp despite giving away free scholarships to underprivileged children. Montvale needs leaders who can communicate a vision of what the experience of summer camp can give kids in the twenty-first century.