Tending the Fire - February 2024 - From Oregon-Idaho Camp and Retreat Ministries

Tending the Fire - From Oregon-Idaho
Camp and Retreat Ministries

February 2024

 Gracious Hospitality

Past issues of Tending the Fire have shared stories of our volunteers, donors and campers. This month we want to share another of our valued partners, our hospitality groups. 

For many years the staff at the Alton L. Collins Retreat Center has focused on offering Gracious Hospitality as the core of its ministry. This means that communication about the needs of the group as a whole and each member is important. When the communication is clear the leaders and participants can focus on why they are there. 

In 2023, the GreySheeters Anonymous (GSA) group held their retreat at the Collins Retreat Center. GSA has its roots in an original 12 Step fellowship for compulsive eating out of Cambridge, Massachusetts in the 1970’s. The group takes its name from a food plan offered by the original food fellowship that was printed on grey sheets of paper. (From Greysheet.org)

When the GSA intergroups on the West Coast wanted to hold an in-person retreat, several planning committee members came to the Collins Retreat Center for a weekend to see if the Center could accommodate their specific food requirements, which, according to Maggie McClellan, can be demanding; group members must weigh each and every meal and have restrictions on what they can or cannot eat. The person-to-person contact and the gracious accommodation by the Director of the retreat center, the Rev. Dan Benson, made the site a great fit. 

For the kitchen staff this was a very different style of meal planning and serving. With Dan and the kitchen staff, “going the extra mile” for the group, Maggie reports that the retreat was a success. When asked if she would recommend the Collins Retreat Center to other groups, Maggie exclaimed, “Absolutely! The ambiance, the location, and the accommodating staff” all contributed to a great weekend. The group held meetings in the Chapel, where they felt a spiritual connection, with some members having breakthroughs during the retreat.

Guests were able to take walks on the property, enjoy the sleeping rooms and the ability to connect with one another. They included a talent show during their stay and have already booked another retreat for 2024! Their stay had some bumps along the way, but, Maggie stated, “Dan Benson made things happen for us. He was quite wonderful.”  

Another part of what it means to offer Gracious Hospitality at the retreat center is that Dan and his staff pray for each group during the two weeks before they arrive, while they are on site, and for two weeks after their retreat. “It meant a lot to us." Maggie said that they were impressed by this and chose to “follow his lead,” praying for the center and for a successful retreat.

Maggie McCellan is the Food Liaison on the Retreat Planning committee for GreySheeters Anonymous (GSA). With the help of this 12 Step Fellowship, Maggie is a sponsor, serves on the Board of Trustees and the Literature Committee and is entering her 34^th year of abstinence from overeating. Her wife is in her fifth year with GSA.