PHOTO BY JEFF GARDENOUR/CFE
Father Bill Yates

When Camp Wingmann lost its director last fall, Diocese of Central Florida officials turned to a familiar face to run its popular retreat.

The Rev. Bill Yates, who, along with his wife, Joanie, helped revive the camp in 1998, has returned as camp director, albeit in a different fashion. He will serve as interim camp director in a part-time role, replacing the Rev. Deke Miller, who left to become vicar of Holy Cross Church in Winter Haven.

Yates, who has served the last 3 ½ years as vicar at Church of the Redeemer in Avon Park, said it has been a seamless transition replacing Miller and returning to his former stomping grounds, which, in turn, has made things easy with the beginning of summer camps this month.

“He’s been really great,” Father Bill said of Miller. “We’ve spent a lot of time together working things out. I don’t think it could have been any better. The fact that I was there for 16 years makes it real easy, just catching up with what’s happening the last three or four years.”

Father Bill came to Wingmann in 1998 when three camp alumni purchased the property with the vision of returning the retreat to its former glory. Camp Wingmann hosted its first retreat in 1928 and ran successfully for 50 years until the diocese sold the property in 1978. The property changed hands several times before it was repurchased in 1998 by former Wingmann campers.

“My wife and I came here in 1998 to actually restart Camp Wingmann, to bring it back from what at that time was in pretty dismal shape,” Father Bill said. “It had been defunct for a long time.”

Father Yates takes over a camp that currently can take 120 youths or adults at a time, a number that is based on its dining room capacity. Wingmann’s summer camps are enormously popular, and winter camp also has been a big draw. Equally as popular are Wingmann’s New Beginnings weekend camps, which are designed for middle-schoolers.

PHOTO BY ERICK PEREZ/CFE
Father Bill Yates, left, is the interim director at Camp Wingmann. He took time out to introduce the camp’s new summer camp director, J.J. Joseph, center, and his wife, Angela, at the 2018 Diocesan Convention.

With the Yateses back in the fold, Wingmann is sure to keep drawing big turnouts for its camps. Father Bill said his wife, Joanie, has swag all on her own.

“In camp, she is called ‘Mama Joanie’ because she has been a camp cook for a long time now,” Father Bill said. “Her gift is hospitality and looking after people, caring for people. The kids pick up on that.”

With no need to worry about establishing a personal identity at Camp Wingmann, Father Bill has turned to getting the facility back in working order after Hurricane Irma last summer caused major damage.

“We got it all cleaned up, and so the camp looks good,” Father Bill said. “We still have two buildings that need repair. One building is where the office and our retreat house is, that’s a roofing problem, and the roofer is coming in March. So, that should fix that one up.

“The other building was our lakefront building where we lost honestly, about one-third of the building,” Father Bill said. “I’ve gotten some volunteers lined up. In the next few months, we are going to be rebuilding it and fixing it back up again.”

Although the camp has fundraisers to help defray expenses, Father Bill said donations are the lifeblood of Wingmann: “We had a good insurance settlement. It has pretty much covered the damages that we have had. We are feeling good about that. What we also need is continual donations for operating funds. That’s been something from the very beginning. Being in ministry, you can’t charge enough in order to pay for year-round upkeep and staff and everything; you can’t. So, we have a number of people for years and churches who have donated on a regular basis, a larger number, but we also could use more.”

Looking ahead, Father Bill said he is hoping to increase the visibility of Camp Wingmann and attract more youths to camps. “Our goal has always been for kids to come there, have a great time and get to know Jesus in a personal way, or to grow in their faith,” he said. “That’s been our founding philosophy from the very beginning. I think our long-term goal right now is to increase … the visibility of the camp. In the next year, we’re going to be in a lot more social media of all various kinds, being a lot more out there, being a lot more in contact with people, just raising awareness about the camp.”

One of Father Bill’s first moves since returning as camp director was hiring a summer camp director: J.J. Joseph, a former Wingmann camper and counselor. Like Father Bill, Joseph will work in a part-time capacity. Camp Wingmann will operate under two part-time employees instead of one full-time director.

“We are just trying to find the Holy Spirit on this,” Father Bill said. “We’re going where the Lord leads us. This seems to the direction to go right now. J.J. is such an incredible guy. He is so energetic, shows enthusiasm, great ideas, works really hard, loves the Lord and is great with kids.”