Stacy Nonprofits and Charities

This "camp" doesn't even deserve one star. I know someone, who was referred by a friend, who participated in the work camp. He was to pay $400/mo to live there and Vermilion River Camp Inc was supposed to provide shelter, food and pay him at the end of 3 months for his work at the camp. They claimed to be a non-profit organization to help people who have issues with alcoholism. They charged my friend an excessive amount of money for gas and told him if things didn't work out, they would make sure they brought him back home. So, they took him to the Boundary Waters area, approximately 4 hours from his home, and put him to work. There was no telephone, radio or swimming pool, which were amenities that were promised. The food was nothing more than moldy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and frozen meals that were picked up out of a dumpster from a school. My friend has a severe alcohol problem, but he was able to obtain alcohol while on the property. He also requested to return home or to be able to go into town for required medical supplies and Pastor Ed refused to let the camp leaders take him. The response was "He should have thought about that before he came here". It seems like they are bringing vulnerable adults to this secluded area to work and they are not living up to their end of the bargain or properly caring for the residents who agreed to live and work at the camp. It is shameful that an organization who boasts itself as a Christian organization would treat anyone like this! They need to be regulated and I would suggest never donating a dime to this organization!

Quite a few years ago, my husband and I attended a wine tasting benefit for the Wildlife Science Center. We had recently moved to the Forest Lake area and attended the wine tasting just for something fun to do. While we were there we bid on and won a day-camp pass for the Science Center which we gave to my stepson. He had a great time at camp, and I'm still thankful we were able to get him away from his video games for a few good lessons from mother nature! I have visited the Center on some of their event days and think the work they do is more difficult than the usual humane work that is done due to the variety of creatures that they have in their care. It deserves praise; and I always enjoy learning something new from them when I attend their events!