Camp, Ministry, Repeat

Instead of spending a summer at one Salvation Army camp, Olivia Williams (left) spent it at six.

This summer, children across The Salvation Army Eastern Territory will take part in a ministry that has brought more young people to the Army’s mission than perhaps any other. At Army summer camps, children experience fellowship, team sports, music lessons, and more, and develop a relationship with the Lord amid His creation. Many of these campers come from cities and urban environments, far from nature.

Salvation Army Junior Soldier Olivia Williams, who attends the Newport Corps in Rhode Island, first went to camp at age 7. She spent the summer of 2023 at Camp Allegheny in Pennsylvania. In 2024, at age 10, with her parents’ help and support, Olivia arranged to spend shortened periods of one to two weeks at six different Salvation Army camps, road-tripping with her parents or family friends between locations.

What could have been an overwhelming logistical challenge became an adventure within a ministry close to her heart.

Six camps, one summer

Olivia began the earliest, hottest weeks of summer at Camps SWONEKY and NEOSA, enjoying water fights with fellow campers, dance parties in the rain, and high-speed zip lines at the camps in Ohio.

“NEOSA also has their rope courses next to their zip line. It’s elevated and going up its stairs drains all your energy before you even do the zip line,” says Olivia.

Around this time, Olivia’s parents, Captains Chris and Kiley Williams, had become the new corps officers at Newport. Camp CONNRI, which serves Connecticut and Rhode Island, was the closest of the six camps, and they accompanied Olivia there on the first day. It was important to them all that Olivia experience its music week.

“I participated with advanced choir and timbrels,” says Olivia. “And we got to see the CONNRI goats and other animals they raise there.”

Next, at Camp Wonderland in Massachusetts, Olivia took part in its brass music program and evening carnival, with stations and games at each stop. Campers were treated to snow cones, popcorn, and other summer fair goodies.

Olivia Williams at Camp Wonderland in Sharon, Mass., in the summer of 2024.

At Camp Sebago in Maine, the water was colder than at any camp she’d been to, but Olivia passed her swim test, as she’d had to at all the others. “Without passing my swim test, I couldn’t participate in water slides, diving, and other lake activities,” she says. She also played soccer at Sebago for the first time in years, having previously avoided the sport after an injury.

Finally, at Long Point Camp in New York, Olivia’s last stop for the summer, unsafe conditions meant swimming wasn’t allowed in the lake. But campers enjoyed themselves collecting beach glass—broken glass that’s been polished by water and sand. And they could still swim in the pool.

A special experience

By seeing so many camps in a short period of time, Olivia gained a unique perspective on their operations. Some divided their activities by clubs; others let campers sample a bit of everything. Multiple locations offered the program Jesus Theatre, which tells the gospel story in a way that can be understood by every camper, no matter their age.

“Every time I watched it, no matter where I was, I cried,” says Olivia.

“Also, there were people from Spain, Germany, England, and Poland, spending their summer working at camp. At Long Point, just about everyone there was from another country. Because phones weren’t allowed at camp, I was always jotting down people’s numbers and taking notes. I made friends I still connect with today.”

This summer, Olivia will finish visiting all 10 of the Eastern Territory’s camps with stops at Camp Ladore in Pennsylvania and Camps Tecumseh and Star Lake in New Jersey. And when she turns 13, she’ll have an all-new experience as a volunteer staff member at the camp of her choosing. 

“All of my children have gone to camp and worked at camps as they got older too,” says Captain Chris Williams. Olivia is the youngest of three daughters. “With Olivia, it was different. There was a lot more to plan, such as the logistics and scheduling of when she would be where and how she would get there. But I think this was a special experience for her. She became a better, more confident person from it.”

Her own ministry

With Olivia sharing her experience at the Salvation Army camps, Captain Chris hopes more first-timers will be led to fill the camps’ summer season, especially from their own Newport Corps. Summer camp is popular in Rhode Island, but most parents send their children to camps within the state’s borders. Going an hour and a half to Connecticut’s Camp CONNRI, he says, can make some parents nervous.

“Traveling is second nature to us Army officers,” says Captain Chris. “But I want the families in our corps to see that Camp CONNRI is closer than they think. We just need to show a few of them what we have there, and from that, they’ll tell others. And when Salvation Army summer camp becomes part of their lives, then they’ll see we have so many other programs for them here in Newport.”

And thanks to her summer adventure, Olivia herself could be the corps’ best recruiter to encourage other young people to experience camp too.

“In Ohio and here in Rhode Island, we grew our youth programs through Olivia,” says Captain Chris. “We call her the ‘Pied Piper,’ because she has an ability to not just bring people her age to the corps, but to also get them involved in our activities. It’s a gift.”

“I’d call it my influence,” says Olivia, laughing. With a smile, he replies, “I’d call it your ministry.”

Learn more about Salvation Army camps near you.