Press Conference - April 4, 2008
There are untold numbers of people in this world who can trace important life changing experiences back to their time here at Siloam. Easter Sunday morning I received an e-mail from a soldier in Afghanistan. He had attended camp here at Siloam nine years ago. At that camp He met a young woman. They dated and have gotten very close. He is going to be home on leave in May, and he wanted to know if he could bring this young woman back to camp and propose marriage to her on the same spot where they met nine years ago. I replied that I was sure we could arrange that special event.
Today we are announcing a Capital Campaign, "Siloam, Changing Lives...Today and Tomorrow." This campaign will enhance and continue our ability of providing facilities for the needs of the Northwest Arkansas Community and beyond. Today we are unveiling the new plans for:
The total cost for Phase I of these projects, which includes the Conference Center/Dining Hall, is $3 million. We are in the process of receiving funds for these projects through the capital campaign. In addition to the campaign, an endowment fund has been estabilished that when fully funded, will keep this camp operating for the next fifty years.
In 1925, the Arkansas Baptist State Convention purchased these 200 acres from the Masonic Lodge of Siloam Springs for $10,000. This was a park where the Lodge held picnics and social gatherings. The purchase was covered by the Herald Leader just as it is being covered by that paper today. The only structure that was here in 1925 that is still standing today is the center portion of this dining hall. Thousands of people have walked across that former dance floor to eat meals here at Siloam and to experience many different types of life change.
Thousands have restarted their personal and professional lives here through training conferences. Over eight hundred started again after the Katrina disaster. Siloam and the community provided a safe place for them to heal and make plans for the future. Many of those residents have written and returned to express their thanks.
You can go across this state and country and say the word Siloam, and thousands of men and women will draw upon images of time spent here at this camp, reflecting upon the life changing experience it gave them. We have a rich heritage of building up America's current generation of leaders and are in the process of raising up the next generation of leaders. Our theme says it all, "Siloam, Changing Lives...Today and Tomorrow."
Pat Batchelor - 479-524-4565, pbatchelor@siloam.arcoxmail.com
There are untold numbers of people in this world who can trace important life changing experiences back to their time here at Siloam. Easter Sunday morning I received an e-mail from a soldier in Afghanistan. He had attended camp here at Siloam nine years ago. At that camp He met a young woman. They dated and have gotten very close. He is going to be home on leave in May, and he wanted to know if he could bring this young woman back to camp and propose marriage to her on the same spot where they met nine years ago. I replied that I was sure we could arrange that special event.
Today we are announcing a Capital Campaign, "Siloam, Changing Lives...Today and Tomorrow." This campaign will enhance and continue our ability of providing facilities for the needs of the Northwest Arkansas Community and beyond. Today we are unveiling the new plans for:
Conference Center and Dining Hall to replace this existing dining hall,
Update the dormitories with heat and air conditioning, thus allowing for year round use,
Building of a large indoor recreation center to enhance our year round strategy as well as other updates or replacements of the other existing facilites.
The total cost for Phase I of these projects, which includes the Conference Center/Dining Hall, is $3 million. We are in the process of receiving funds for these projects through the capital campaign. In addition to the campaign, an endowment fund has been estabilished that when fully funded, will keep this camp operating for the next fifty years.
In 1925, the Arkansas Baptist State Convention purchased these 200 acres from the Masonic Lodge of Siloam Springs for $10,000. This was a park where the Lodge held picnics and social gatherings. The purchase was covered by the Herald Leader just as it is being covered by that paper today. The only structure that was here in 1925 that is still standing today is the center portion of this dining hall. Thousands of people have walked across that former dance floor to eat meals here at Siloam and to experience many different types of life change.
Thousands have restarted their personal and professional lives here through training conferences. Over eight hundred started again after the Katrina disaster. Siloam and the community provided a safe place for them to heal and make plans for the future. Many of those residents have written and returned to express their thanks.
You can go across this state and country and say the word Siloam, and thousands of men and women will draw upon images of time spent here at this camp, reflecting upon the life changing experience it gave them. We have a rich heritage of building up America's current generation of leaders and are in the process of raising up the next generation of leaders. Our theme says it all, "Siloam, Changing Lives...Today and Tomorrow."
Pat Batchelor - 479-524-4565, pbatchelor@siloam.arcoxmail.com
