East Texas Business

By GREG JUNEK
Business Editor

Forty-one years ago, Pine Cove, a nonprofit, non-denominational Christian summer camp, began operations in and around Lake Palestine. The camp has never stopped growing, and a week ago it opened its newest addition, The Timbers, for students entering the eighth through ninth grades.

Since 1967, it has grown to eight individual camps for youth and families. Activities include zip lines, water sports, climbing walls, fun theme nights and conversations with camp counselors that Mario Zandstra, president and chief executive officer, says can transform people and change their lives.

Zandstra appeared enthusiastic last week during a visit to his office and a camp tour. Once a part of the corporate world, Zandstra said he has found a higher calling in helping youth become acquainted with God and commit themselves to Christ.

“This is part of the agreement we had in 2004, that we would build enough youth camps for 50,000 new kids to come to camp over a 10-year period – about 5,000 kids a year,” Zandstra said, referring to The Timbers and another new camp, Pine Cove Outback, at another Pine Cove facility in Columbus.

The Timbers can accommodate 2,500 young people in the summer.

Construction started in early summer 2007, and the camp took about 12 months to build, he said.

“We spent roughly $4 million on this project, and the project included the dining hall, welcome center, 16 cabins, gymnasium, swimming pool and the program activities that are there,” Zandstra said.

Part of the camp also consists of cabins built in the last couple of years, about an $800,000 investment, he said.

The camp is built on roughly 100 acres of the approximately 800 acres Pine Cove owns near and on Lake Palestine. Pine Cove’s Tyler facilities include five youth camps, two day camps and three family camps.

More than 16,000 youth and families will attend sessions this summer, with more than 13,000 of those coming from Tyler, according to information provided by the camp.

In addition, more than 30,000 visitors come to Pine Cove during the non-summer months to attend conferences, retreats and outdoor education programs.

During the summer, the local Pine Cove facilities employ more than 950 people, with the majority coming from Tyler campuses. College students are recruited from several states, and Zandstra said this influx of people each summer helps contribute to the local economy.

The facilities have 150 full-time employees.

But at the camp, economic contribution takes a back seat in people’s minds to helping people.

“Our goal is to impact kids’ lives and our staff members at The Timbers have a unique opportunity to impact middle school and high school kids to make important decisions about that very formative stage in their life,” Zandstra said.

Forty members of Pine Cove’s resident staff travel to college campuses throughout the fall and spring to recruit summer staff. This year it hired nearly 900 students from 130 campuses.

Each new employee must submit references and agree to a background check. Zandstra said Pine Cove must be assured each new employee is a match with the camp’s core philosophy.

“We hired just short of 900 college staff from 130 college campuses,” Zandstra said.

He said statistics show that young people who have a relationship with God have a significantly less likelihood of getting into trouble.

Zandstra had a successful job in the secular world before becoming involved with Pine Cove. Prior to setting off on his new journey, he spent a decade with a Dallas firm.

“I was their partner for Dallas, Denver, Salt Lake City and Detroit,” he said. “I loved doing it, and didn’t have any reason to think I wouldn’t do that.”

But Zandstra read a book, “Halftime,” by Tyler native Bob Buford, which said a person spends half of his or her life working for success and the other half working for significance.

“It had a profound effect on me,” Zandstra said. “I read the book – it was right before I turned 38 years old. I sat my wife down and I said, ‘Honey, I think we’re going to be doing something different in the next couple of years. I don’t know what it is, I don’t know what it looks like, but I expect it’s going to be different.’”

He later was on the search committee to find a new president for Pine Cove, and ended up being chosen to be the new president. He recently celebrated his 10th year in that position.

“Although I was very grateful for all the benefits I had in the corporate world, there is nothing to me in comparison to when a kid tells me that something happened in camp that has caused him to view life totally different than he’s ever viewed life before in youth,” Zandstra said.

Last year Pine Cove celebrated its 40th anniversary, and work continues today to maintain its infrastructure and improve some of its older areas, Zandstra said.

For example, an elementary camp built in 1971, The Towers, is receiving new amenities. Pine Cove has replaced 26 cabins and a dining hall there over the past two years for an investment of approximately $2.4 million.

“There are camp revenues from people signing up for camp, but all of our capital projects are funded through donations,” Zandstra said. “We’ve got a very loyal group of folks who donate year end and year out to Pine Cove, and we’ve been very fortunate in that.”

Youths play in a swimming pool at Pine Cove, a nonprofit, non-denominational Christian camp on and near Lake Palestine.
(Staff Photo By Mark Roberts)