Megan Swinney

Bailey answered ministry's call Aug 11, 2009 9:56 PM Megan Sanders Journal Correspondent After leading a ministry for mentally disabled men and women for 24 years, Eleanor Bailey is now retiring. On Tuesday, campers at Camp Alta gathered to wish her goodbye and to present her with a quilt they all helped make. The campers are anywhere from 20 to 80 years old. Volunteer Joy Jones said last year she had each of the campers color in a square that they then made into a quilt for Bailey. Many of the campers stood up and said a few words to Bailey about how she affected them, their lives and how much they appreciated her. “Eleanor has always been nice to me,” camper Carol Carnahan said. “She is a good Sunday school teacher.” Carnahan also said that Bailey helped her learn Bible verses and sign language so she could talk to her friends who were deaf. It was a very emotional morning for volunteers and campers as they expressed how much they love and will miss Bailey. Camper Chuck Straughan stood up in front of the group to thank Bailey. “I really appreciate all your hard work,” he said. He elaborated on how much she has done for campers, like himself. “Eleanor has gone above and beyond the call of duty,” Straughan said. “She has done more than the Lord could ever imagine.” Camper Cheryl Gentry agreed. “Eleanor — she is my best friend,” Gentry said. “She gives respect to everybody.” Deane Benker said Bailey is a good influence. “I am going to miss her so much at church,” Benker said. Bailey started the group because she had a daughter who was disabled and she met another woman with disabled daughters who told Bailey she could not find a church ministry for her children. Bailey went on a search to find a place where she could take the girls for Sunday school. “I realized there was a whole group that was not being ministered to,” Bailey said. She approached Bell Road Baptist Church with the idea for a special ministry and they said yes. Bailey said she did not have any of the training that was needed to do the ministry and she was planning to pay her own way. She received a call saying that her ticket was paid for and that she was going out to train in Tennessee the next week. Bailey said at her training there was a woman who had a camp where they took the mentally disabled. “I figured if they can have a camp in Tennessee, why can’t we have one in California?” Bailey said. When she got back to Auburn she called up Bell Road Baptist Church and asked them for a camp. She said they had three days open at Camp Alta. The three days have now turned into five. Campers go to Camp Alta from Monday to Friday. They also meet on Sundays in the 900 room at Bell Road Baptist Church. “I prayed, ‘God, this is your camp, not my camp,’” Bailey said. She said that not all of the campers have accepted Jesus into their lives, but many of them have. “When they accept Jesus into their lives you know it’s for real,” Bailey said. “It’s there forever.” She also said that the campers have unlimited love for the camp leaders and the volunteers. She said you can’t ask them if they want to accept Jesus, because they will do anything you ask. “They have to come to you,” Bailey said. Some of them are very outward about it and others are much more quiet. She said they remember, too. “I had asked one of the boys if he had accepted Jesus into his life and he said, ‘Yes, Eleanor, I prayed with you.’” Bailey said. She said that some of them do not have the ability to accept the Lord into their lives, but she knows that they will be with God anyways. “I know the kids will come to the Lord and be secure in his hands forever,” Bailey said. She said the experience has been very humbling for her and that they are all God’s children. “They have given me more than I have given them,” Bailey said.