Trout Lake nonprofit celebrates its 20th anniversary with name change

Twenty years ago Jeff Duke’s mother, Bernice Duke, first mentioned the idea of starting their own Christian children’s camp.

Before Camp Jonah formed, Bernice Duke hosted “grandma camp” with her 24 grandchildren at her home located on 20 acres of woodland. It wasn’t until the old Trout Lake School was put on the market that the idea became somewhat feasible to the family.

“In about 1992, when this [the old Trout Lake School] came up for sale, my mother made this comment that ‘if I had the old school I could really do camps,’” said Jeff Duke. In the beginning Jeff Duke bristled at the idea of selling the family farm to purchase the old school building.

“I never wanted to do it because at that time there was kind of light at the end of the tunnel for our farm,” Jeff Duke explained. The family dairy farm, which had been in the Duke family since 1965, was in the midst of hard times. Jeff and Beki Duke were about to take out a loan to expand the milking operation when Bernice Duke spoke up.

The idea went unchecked for a few years, then reemerged.

“So I never heard a word of it until 1995,” Jeff Duke continued, “and my wife said, ‘I think we should buy the old school with your mother,’ and I was so upset. I’d never heard of anything so stupid in my life, because I kept saying, ‘What are we going to do? What are we going to do if we buy that old school?’”

Twenty years ago Beki Duke admitted she didn’t know what the family would do if they were to follow through, she didn’t know if the family could make a go of it by hosting camps and retreats.

After a few months of long discussions, and Jeff Duke taking his frustration with him when sleeping on the couch, the pair set out to subdivide the farm and continue questioning the “what if.” When driving the farm, Jeff Duke looked at the parcels and told his wife it would take a miracle to find a buyer.

Then one day a lumber business owner from Portland approached Jeff and Beki Duke with a proposition, which mirrored the couple’s intentions.

“There was just no way that some man out of the clear blue was going to divide the property up just like I had done the day before,” Jeff Duke said. The whole experience was an eye-opener, as if an opportunity had been planned for him and his family.

An offer was made for the property and the Dukes accepted. The pipe dream seemed like a reality, and Jeff Duke came to terms with the idea of buying the old school and starting what is now known as Camp Jonah.

“I don’t know how to explain it, it was crazy,” Jeff said, remembering how the events unfolded 20 years ago.

The camp is now a family affair, run by the Dukes, their children, and a host of volunteers. Beki Duke estimates about 2,500 participants visit the camp each year from areas all over the Pacific Northwest.

“This year with our 20th anniversary, we changed our name from Jonah Ministries to Camp Jonah, and our theme for this year is ‘Say Yes,’” explained Beki Duke, “because it started out with a big yes, and it takes a lot of yeses to keep doing something like this.”