It was a long-awaited day on September 22; the ground breaking ceremony for The Salvation Army's Pine Lake Camp new cabins took place, and many where there to enjoy in festivities.



Plans to rebuild the cabins have been a long  time in the making, and Major Eric Bond, the Divisional Commander, with Major Ken Percy  and Camp Director Capt. Darlene Burt  welcomed special guests Mayor Earl Kinsella, John Leder and Al Petersen in the special ceremony to commemorate the construction of the cabins.

Pine Lake Camp has a long history, and it was starting to show. The camp first opened in 1958 to children of all ages and backgrounds, and the original cabins were still standing just last year, but now suffering with mold and decay. The

camp desperately needed a major overhaul, and plans were put in place to build 4 new cabins that would accomodate more kids, more programs and even have an emergency shelter built into their basements.

When the committtee members and sponsors from The Salvation Army's Annual Golf Classic heard that money was needed to build these special cabins, they got to work and decided they would try to raise enough money to help build one of the cabins (that's about $350,000!!) and all the money raised from the golf tournaments in 2007, 2008 and the one coming up in 2009, is going to the construction of a cabin at Pine Lake Camp.

The weather was perfect to hold such an important ceremony, and all the attendees were included in pictures after the ceremony, a tour of the camp and a catered lunch by the camp chefs. As the Divisional Commander made a few remarks about the building getting started, he stated that "we mustn't forget the vision and hard work that went into this project before many of us arrived here to see it come to fruition. This has been a goal of many different people over the years."