MOUNTAIN, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – From frog catching to rock climbing, there are several activities for Father-Daughter camp at Camp U-Nah-Li-Ya.
But these dads are busy at work.
David Volm tells FOX 11 he’s been coming to Camp U-Nah-Li-Ya for about six years.
“Started off with my two boys,” said Volm as he teared up.
Now he’s back with his daughter, Ava.
When Volm heard how severe storms damaged the camp in July, he says he was concerned the camp just wouldn’t be the same.
But given the opportunity to help, he got busy right away.
“You can either come to camp and just be an attendee or you can participate and become part of the family and I think that’s what Camp U-Nah-Li-Ya has been,”
That family includes people like Gabrielle Ruggles, who’s been coming to Camp U-Nah-Li-Ya for years.
“Earlier today we were chopping wood and it just felt really good to help out because I couldn’t come up to help volunteer earlier but it’s so cool to help out,”
It’s the same situation for Allie Lagowski, a Green Bay teen who grew up coming to the camp.
“I wasn’t sure what I was going to see when I came up here. But I think the workers and all the volunteers did a really good job because it didn’t really make that big of a difference when we came here… It was just a major relief because this is one of the best parts of the year, I just love coming up here.”
Even though the camp is open and safe for children, there’s still plenty of work to do around the grounds.
“So we are still in the process of fixing some of the buildings but all the ones we need to run are good to go,” said camp executive director, Max Clark.
He says thousands of volunteer hours made it possible to open this weekend, not only for the father-daughter camp, but the rest of the season’s camp activities.
“I can’t even put into words how good it feels. We exist here to have kids here,” Clark said with a smile. “That’s our mission, that’s our purpose, and so basically we got our purpose back.”
“Very happy and nothing but smiles,” added Volm as he laughed with other camp dads.
The opening weekend of the camp saw over 100 participants.
If you’re interested you can still register for the father daughter camp in upcoming weekends by following this link.
