We often tell the wonderful story of the way the historic CT Conference of the UCC found Silver Lake, and the ministers across Connecticut joined together to insist that the Conference Board take advantage of the opportunity to purchase Camp Easton. Until that time, summer conferences for Congregational young people had been scattered at many different sites: Davenport Choir Conference at Kent School, Fellowship Conference at Camp Woodstock, and other programs at other locations. But the ministers and lay leaders knew the power of place and wanted a single spot where friendships, memories and history could be built, changing lives and futures for hundreds of youth across CT and beyond.

There is so much more to that story! As I understand it from many conversations with Rev. James Yee (whose daughter, Cindy, was a dear friend during my Silver Lake and State Pilgrim Fellowship years), our then Conference Minister, Dr. James F. English, had great reservations about spending “all that money” to buy a used camp in 1956. But the Board of Directors persisted and appointed a committee that Jim led to explore all the possibilities they could find anywhere in CT. Throughout 1956, they visited site after site and were coming to the conclusion that they would never find the right property when they received word that Camp Easton in Sharon was for sale. They went immediately and knew when they arrived that it was just the place. Now they needed to convince the Conference Board to allocate $125,000 (≈$1.5 million today) to acquire the camp, and do that over the objections of the Conference Minister.

When the Board met in urgent special session for the vote, it was successful. Jim Yee called the attorney for the owner, who informed him that he had had a bank check for $125,000 in his pocket from another buyer for a week. But the owner, Mrs. Evelyn Marshall Suarez, had wanted the Congregationalists to have it so she had instructed him to sit on it. Then they heard from Mrs. Suarez herself that she was so pleased the Board had voted as it did that she would give the first $50,000 herself! That meant the Conference needed to raise just $75,000 to buy Silver Lake, and it did very quickly.

I invite you to think about all the generosity that surrounds Silver Lake:

• That committee that gave all that time in 1956
• The Board that took the risk, even when Dr. English opposed it
• Mrs. Suarez’ gift of 40% of the cost!
• The churches across the state who gave and gave until the goal was met.

The Silver Lake Purchase Promo Film 1957

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• The dozens of ministers and laity every summer who gave up their own time with their families to be Deans and Counselors (yes, they were mostly ministers in the early days!)
• The churches that continued to raise money every year to help kids go to Silver Lake
• The churches and associations that built the cabins and social buildings in the 2000s
• The donors to the Now for the Future Campaign in the 2000s who helped transform the facilities and its offerings
• The campers who donated to mission offerings over all the years

All of this has created a spirit of generosity in every Laker – generosity that has shaped their leadership throughout their lives, giving themselves to others, standing for justice and peace and a vibrant earth, giving generously out of whatever resources they have or can find to make the world a better place.

Friends of Silver Lake believes that the power of place, a place associated with deep memory and the formation of one’s life and faith, is yet more important now than in 1956. With so much of life on tenterhooks – earth burning and flooding, democracy challenged, technology shaping minds – it is generosity that defines us and always has. I give thanks for all those who’ve gone before us in courage and determination and generosity, and invite you to do the same!