Becker shares innovative history of Camp Courageous

     Charlie Becker, CEO of Camp Courageous, spoke about the history and innovations at Camp on Nov. 17 at the Monticello Heritage and Cultural Center. Becker was one of the weekly “Spark Talk” guest speakers.

   “It's so neat to be on the cutting edge of camps serving people with disabilities. Camps in general are phasing out,” shared Becker.

   Becker was hired in 1980 as the third director of Camp. The first director was Gary Turbes. Becker took over after Bud Ewell left.

   Two years ago, Camp celebrated the 50^th anniversary of the founding of the camp. This year marks the 50^th anniversary of actually serving campers.

   “The first campers came in 1974,” noted Becker. “Fifty years later, campers like Charlie Cummins still come to Camp Courageous. In those 50 years, it’s grown from 211 campers to 10,000; from five buildings to 35 buildings; from 40 acres to 400 acres; from a staff of about 12 to about 200 in the summertime. So it’s come a long ways.”

   Before Camp existed, the original 40 acres passed through several people’s hands. It ultimately ended up in the hands of Father Gallagher (Rev. John R. Gallagher). Unfortunately, the land was landlocked and too rugged to do anything with.

   “When Father Gallagher got the land, he did tell me one time that he had the idea of starting a camp for boys,” recalled Becker. “He did some volunteer work in Charles City with people with disabilities. Then he decided to do it for people with disabilities.”

   Gallagher and Gary Turbes, who worked at Cuckler, knew one another from Charles City.

   “Gary volunteered to try and get this camp idea going,” Becker said. “Just to get water to this rugged land was almost impossible. He felt the land was not going to work for a camp. No one would provide access to it; it was time to move on with a different idea.”

   The two men talked to Gus Norlin about the issues they were having. Norlin had a connection to the Iowa Conservation Commission (now the Iowa DNR).

   “He offered to see if they’d do a trade for something more accessible. So that’s what happened.”

   In the very early days, Camp was known as “Camp Courage.” There also happened to be a Camp Courage in Minnesota. So in 1979, it became known as Camp Courageous.

   The first building built at Camp was the maintenance building.

   “Dave Cuckler donated it, and his employees ended up doing all of the work for free,” said Becker. “Thankfully people came along and were at the right place at the right time.

   “What is kind of interesting about the history of the camp is that people tell me how innovative our staff and board members are,” he continued. “But I swear, it’s kind of like you’re on a course and things just happen. I have just been really really fortunate. We realize it takes a special community to have a place like Camp Courageous. A lot of Monticello people were there in the beginning.”

   Many of the buildings and facilities at Camp would not have been possible had it not been for the creative and innovative people who first had the idea and made it a reality, with Becker’s blessing, the blessing of the Camp Board of Directors.

   “It’s extremely important to have really really humble beginnings. Because then, as the camp grows, you always stay humble. We don’t waste anything,” Becker said.

   For example, before installing solar panels, Camp’s electric bill would fluctuate between $12,000 to $15,000 a month. Now, it’s about $3,000 to $4,000 a month.

   “So we save over $10,000 a month,” noted Becker. “It’s not always so much about raising money as it is saving money. We try to be extremely innovative as far as the environment is concerned.”

   In, 1988, Dr. Earl DeShaw came to Becker with the idea of starting perpetual fund, a foundation, for Camp. Becker admitted he thought was not a great idea, but the board allowed DeShaw to pursue the idea.

   “The perpetual fund is probably the number-one reason why we got through pandemic and everything else,” praised Becker of some hard times. “I am CEO of the camp and the foundation. It’s two separate corporations.”

   Almost 40 years ago, Leigh Clark came to Becker with his family’s fruitcake recipe he’d worked years to perfect. He wanted to donate the recipe to Camp, use the Camp kitchen to bake the fruitcakes, and sell them as a fundraiser for Camp.

   “I’m thinking this is the worst food out of anything in the whole world. I thought it was a joke,” Becker laughed. “But he was dead serious. So next thing we know, we’re in the fruitcake business.”

   At the peak of Camp’s fruitcake sales, they’ve sold 10,000.

   So where does Becker see Camp in 20 years from now?

   “I’d like to see it continue to grow as far as size,” he said.

   In terms of programming, camp’s travel program and respite care are their two biggest-growing services.

   “It’s an exciting program,” he said of Camp Courageous Travel. “Taking people and making dreams come true that they would never ever dream could come true.”

   In the near future, Camp is working on putting up a new gazebo and a new stage for camper performances.

   “Then we’ll make an announcement in the middle of next year about a new facility that we’ll be building for Pictured Rocks,” teased Becker. “You’ll see camp more and more out there. The more people we can expose to the camp, the more they realize it’s just not a teepee out there in the middle of nowhere. We’re really big into helping other people.”