Kern is still working with kids

By Tom Hintgen (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Monday, April 14, 2008

Five years have gone by since Dewey Kern retired as a grade-school principal in the Fergus Falls Public Schools system. One thing remains for he and his wife, Sharon, who live in the Brainerd area. That’s their love for children.

“When we retired in 2003, we really didn’t know what we wanted to do,” Kern said. “We did know that one may retire, but you don’t stop working. Having something to do each day gives one a purpose for life. We knew we wanted to do volunteer mission work with children.”

After taking it relatively easy for a year, they received a letter in 2004 about the annual banquet at the Bible Camp that Dewey attended as a child, Camp JIM (Jesus is Mine). The camp is located about five miles west of Brainerd on County Road 36 and five miles south of Highway 210.

“We decided to attend this event, which would have been our first time back for a camp activity in 40 years,” he said. “We really enjoyed this time and had a chance to meet the new director and the buildings and ground director.”

The Kerns decided to drive to the camp for a couple of work days just to help out.

“During this time Tony Masurka, the camp director, asked if we would like to be Camp Grandpa and Grandma for three days for kids at Cub Camp which is for children six and seven years old,” Dewey said. “We said, ‘Yes,’ and this helped us to make the decision for what we wanted to do.”

That summer, 2004, they drove back and forth each day for 52 days, about 100 miles each way. During this time, they talked a lot about whether this was something they wanted to do.

“We decided to pray about it to see if this was what the Lord wanted us to do,” Dewey said. “We then put our house up for sale, kind of like Gideon’s fleece, and in a short period of time it sold and we moved to the Brainerd Lakes area to work at camp.”

The Kerns built a house near Pillager, about three miles from camp in a new development. They volunteer at the camp almost every day from the middle of March to the middle of December.

Camp JIM is a nondenominational Bible Camp. It’s been in operation for 75 years.

“With the new director and staff, we’re in the process of rebuilding all of the buildings,” Dewey said. “We have four paid staff and the rest of us volunteer to help out when possible. Sharon runs the office and I help out with anything else they have to do, which changes every day.”

They feel blessed to be working at the camp.

“We feel the Lord has placed us here, because we work with the children,” Dewey said. “Sharon enjoys the office work. A year ago I was voted to be chairman of the board, so we’re really back into our realm.”

The full-time Camp JIM staff includes 11 children among three families.

“The oldest is nine, so we’re the adopted grandparents to a whole lot of darling children,” Sharon said. “Hopefully, we can be a positive part of their lives and see them grow up to be adults.”

During the winter months they rent a condominium for 2-1/2 months on the Gulf Coast, in southern Alabama.

“We really enjoyed our 35 years in Fergus Falls,” Dewey said. “We made many friends over the years. We look at our lives as a book. Each major change is a chapter. When our work life ended in Fergus Falls, our next chapter took us to the Brainerd lakes area.”

People can go to the website (www.campjim.org) to see more information about Camp JIM (Jesus is Mine).

Tom Hintgen’s column runs on Mondays.