Thank You Faith Technologies!

Camp Anokijig finally has a new work truck! That may not seem remarkable to the casual reader, but this is very welcome news to those who are intimately familiar with Anokijig's inner-workings. A work truck isn't the most glamorous of donations, but at Anokijig, a good work truck is vital to our mission of serving children and families and the story of how this wonderful 2002 Ford F250 came to Anokijig has as many twists and turns as the road leading into Camp. We actually received the truck a few weeks back, but it was pressed into duty immediately and we weren't able to even snag a picture of it until this week.

Perhaps the most telling sign that Anokijig needed a new truck, was the fact that our facilties director, Scott Stewart had been using his personal vehicle for Camp business for quite some time now. Between taking care of our 50-60 horses, plowing roads, hauling around equipment and supplies and generally keeping this place running, camp vehicles tend to see very hard use and it bothered us very much that Scott was using his own truck for this hard work.

Some may ask what happened to the red 1992 GMC pickup Anokijig had for many years? It served us well, but eventually, the hundreds of thousands of miles of rough use caught up with 'Ol Red and we had to put it out to pasture near the end of 2006.

Although we had other trucks to use, they weren't really an improvement, in fact, we sometimes wondered if the mid-1970s Ford F100 we were using actually leaked more gasoline than it burned. By June of this year, another camp work truck with several hundred thousand miles on the odometer was finally retired. It's currently resting by our supply shed, if you'd like to stop by and visit it.

The truck we've been using most recently is this green F250 donated by our good friend, Norman Voigt, whom we all miss dearly. Norm's truck filled a role, when we desperately needed it, although it's never seen a gas pump it didn't like. Like it's two predecessors, Norm's old truck now sounds like it's running on five or six cylinders and with several hundred thousand miles on the clock, we're just hoping it hangs on for another month or so, until we can replace it with another donated truck.

As we turn our attention back to our new F250, the name Phil Binks needs to be mentioned. Phil is one of those very special Anokijig alumni, who even after several decades, have kept in touch with Anokijig and helped us a great deal over the years. Phil's name is mentioned, because it was Phil's son, Dan Binks, who was able to connect us with Rollie Stephenson and the wonderful folks at Faith Technologies, Inc., who spearheaded this effort to update our aging fleet.

After Phil told Dan how much we needed a new truck, Dan took it upon himself to find someone who might be able to help Anokijig with a newer work truck. When Rollie and the folks at Faith Technologies heard about our need, they responded in tremendous fashion and quite honestly, overwhelmed us with their generosity. We should also mention that the great folks at Bergstrom Automotive, Auto Trim Design and Zero to 60 Garage also made this truck a reality for us and we are grateful for their support as well. With our Alumni Renunion taking place this Sunday, we hope many of you can join us and see the newest addition to Anokijig in person!