The Pines Catholic Camp
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The Pines Catholic Camp, located in Big Sandy, Texas outside of Tyler and 2 hours east of Dallas, is a Catholic summer camp and retreat center. As and accredited camp with the American Camp Association (ACA)[1] The Pines seeks to continue to “change lives one child at a time.” Although not affiliated with any dioceses, The Pines has a close relationship with the Roman Catholic dioceses of Dallas and follows all of their Safe Environment Guidelines.
During the year, The Pines Catholic Camp runs Environmental Education, Confirmation Retreats, Awakening Programs, Leadership Retreats and Rentals. The Pines year round Ministry Staff consists of about 6 college graduates who plan, organize and run the retreats. Over 25 Catholic Schools from the Dallas Diocese attend Environmental Education where they study Archaeology, Orienteering, Limnology, Entomology, Forestry and Meteorology. Together the year round programs serve over 3,500 youth.
The summer program at The Pines Catholic Camp is designed for campers 7-16 and includes nine one-week sessions. Two sessions are only for campers 7-12, two sessions are only for campers 13-16 and the other five sessions are all ages. Activities such as swimming, arts & crafts, target sports, challenge course and a giant waterslide keep campers busy all day however, providing youth the opportunity to grow in their faith and friendships in an incredible setting is what The Pines is all about.
[edit] History
The Pines Catholic camp was establishe in 1988. For six years prior to the founding of the non-profit organization, it operated as an outdoor youth ministry for several Dallas parishes under the direction of founding Executive Director, Bonni Castellaw Brophy. Camp Natowa, a Campfire Girls and Boys property in East Texas, was purchased and in June of 1989 the first group of campers entered the gates. The 446 campers that first summer came from thirty-seven parishes in four dioceses. Today the summer camp program at The Pines serves over 1700 youth each summer. Hank Lanik became the first full time Camp Director for The Pines Catholic Camp in 1990 and continued as the Camp Director until 2005. Although he left to join the seminary, he still remains close to The Pines and to its staff member. John Egan is the current Camp Director on site in Big Sandy, Texas. The Business Office for The Pines is located in Richardson, Texas just north of Dallas.
