The brainchild of Beulah Baptist Church’s Lynn Davis, and developed in collaboration with CFM’s Cathy Barney, the recent July 12-14 weekend camping retreat grew out of the relationship established between the two faith communities through their participation in the interfaith organization Equasion. (https://equasion.org/who-we-are/)

Bertha Lynn wanted to give Beulah kids the chance to step outside their everyday surroundings into the tranquility of the natural world. For some, it would be a first. When Cathy told her that Quaker Knoll on the bank of Cowan Lake is just such a place, and that it’s free of charge, the game was on. (https://quakerknoll.org/)

The moment 10-year-old Khaleesi Hazelbaker heard about a camp out with kids from Beulah Baptist Church, it was an immediate and resounding YES! “Linda [Daigle] suggested I go. She told me we’d do stuff like relay races. It sounded fun. And I liked that I’d be the one representing Cincinnati Friends Meeting and Quakers.”

“Once I actually got there, though,” she says, “I felt alone.” While Cincinnati Friends provided much of the daytime programming, it was Beulah members who stayed overnight, sleeping in the cabins with the kids. That first evening, Khaleesi observed, with tears streaming down her cheeks, “I’m the only Quaker”. Hearts melted. 

Bertha Lynn quickly rounded up Arian, a friendly young girl Khaleesi had played with earlier that day, who put an arm around Khaleesi and drew her close. “She was there for me,” Khaleesi explains. “When I was sad or upset, she’d say ‘It’s OK. It’s gonna be OK.’ and then it just kicked off, and we were best friends ‘till the end. We even had a secret handshake.” 

Accustomed to taking on a nickname whenever she went to camp, Khaleesi dubbed herself Firefly: “When it’s dark, I like to go outside and catch fireflies. It’s my favorite thing about camp.” She nicknamed her new friend Bumblebee. 

From shared meals to playful antics on the swing set, the two were nearly inseparable. Choreographing their dance for the Saturday night talent show cemented their friendship. “The hard part was choosing a song. It took about 30 minutes. Then we added the moves. It was super fun.”

Anchored by Bumblebee’s friendship, Khaleesi blossomed, jumping wholeheartedly into the wealth of weekend activities. “We went non-stop,” she says. “I liked the lake. Carole [Barnhart] took us hiking down there.” Under Michael Ramos’s guidance, campers followed up with a poem about the nature hike. “We got a spiral notebook from Michael to write our ideas in. That was really cool.” Linda Daigle showed up as rover on Saturday, pitching in wherever needed.

Cathy eased campers into learning the differences among "Fact, Fiction, Gossip & Fake News" with a game of Truth or Dare, focusing in part on trivia about Quakers and Baptists. After issuing them press passes, pens, and reporter's notebooks, she gave the kids questions and instructions for interviewing each other. “I’m not sure how far they got because they had too much fun with Truth or Dare!”  

There was more: Relay races, balloon fight, campfires, and sparklers. Other standouts for Khaleesi: 

• “The food was amazing. One of my favorite parts.” Beulah members and friends supplied the food and cooking expertise — two of the women are professional caterers — needed to prepare four camper-pleasing meals. Ably assisted by CFMers Teresa Caligaris, Hal Roach, and his wife, Elizabeth, Jim Newby served up his signature fluffy pancakes on Saturday morning. 
• Her cabin, Kaimosi, named after the location of the first Friends school in Kenya. “It was really big, and there was a lot of space to lay your feet.”  While cabins at other camps she’s attended had no power, “We had an electric light and a fan”. The fan providing cooling relief from the sweltering heat. 
• The kindness of the adults and helpfulness of the boys. “They brought over all the girls’ bags. Such gentlemen.” In turn, Bertha Lynn admired Khaleesi’s spunk in spending the night in the woods surrounded by strangers. And then there was her generosity: “She offered me her pillow when I couldn’t find mine.”
• The worship service designed and led by the youth campers, each contributing some aspect of worship that held meaning for them. The Baptists’ energetic style of worship was new to Khaleesi, involving a choir, praise dance, and verbal prayer. “They speak their prayers instead of thinking them. I didn’t exactly know what to do.” And then she did, leading worshipers in a guided meditation. “Doing a meditation made me feel more like I was at my church.”

Firefly lights up at the prospect of another weekend retreat at Quaker Knoll with Beulah Baptist. “That would be super fun! And maybe Bumblebee will be there again.”