It’s paid off
Camp of the Cross receieves gift
BY TYSON SMEDSTAD
About 20 years ago, Victor Lemke and his wife Doreen visited Camp of the Cross to help work on some buildings. They took notice of the condition of the dining hall and knew that something needed to be done.
Years later, Victor left his estate to the camp.
The old dining hall was in rough shape. The camp purchased the hall from the Corps of Engineers back in the 1950s.
“It was the same building the workers ate in while building the Garrison Dam,” Camp Director and Pastor Janis Sloka said.
Back in 2013, Camp of the Cross kicked off a capital campaign and one of the projects was to start building a new fellowship hall and dining area.
“There was a lot of support from people helping to build it and to donate, but the challenge is that we don’t have equity because we don’t own the land,” Sloka said.
The camp relied heavily on a loan from Garrison State Bank, based on pledges, which Sloka said is something which isn’t done very often.
Vicotr pledged a portion of his estate, to be receieved at his death.
Recently Victor died Sept.1, Doreen sied Sept. 19, 2011.
When the camp received the estate, they were able to pay off both loans they had been paying interest on: a construction loan and a loan their endowment took out for them.
“By paying those loans off, the building became debt-free,”Sloka said.
The building was affectionately named, “The Lemke Family Fellowship Hall.”
“Because of (Lemke’s) humbleness, he insisted that there only be a spot on a wall that mentioned that, that name would not be on the outside on that building. He said that the only thing on the outside of the building should be the cross,” Sloka said. “He was a very generous and humble man.”
