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In Arizona, Ponderosa Ranch Camp Director uses experience as a camper turned staffer to bring growth.
After a long week counseling children at The Salvation Army’s Camp Ponderosa Ranch in Arizona’s White Mountains, Anderson Schmig was spent, physically and spiritually. Many of the campers came from unstable homes, and he was wearing the weight of their stories and behavior.
“When you first step in, you’re kind of jumping into the deep end,” said Schmig, who attended the camp as a kid. “Orientation is great, but it’s hard to actually put someone into the shoes of talking to a kid who’s in a difficult situation.”
But his counselor supervisor, Cody Trimmer, saw the inner struggle.
“It was very trying for me and he saw that,” Schmig said.
They processed the situation together.
“We were able to not just see what was going on but why it was going on and how that hard time was going to produce something beautiful later on in these kids’ lives,” he said.
It also produced something beautiful in Schmig’s life.
Eight years later, he is now the director of Camp Ponderosa, appointed to the position in July 2023. The strategies he learned from Trimmer, coworkers and being a camper himself, are helping Schmig as he shapes the future of the 150-acre facility, just outside of Herber.
His focus is on creating spiritual development moments for staff and campers, many of whom have never experienced life outside the city.
“It is important to give the kids permission to open up, to be themselves, to express the hurts and what’s going on in their lives,” he said. “It’s amazing because you’re empowering those kids to speak up for themselves, to make decisions for themselves, and to seek support so that they can be led into a better situation.”
That liberty, he said, creates fertile soil.
“At any point, it’s easy to get caught up in an area where we think that we’re making people grow, that we’re the driving force,” Schmig said. “It really starts with that person’s decision to want to grow, to want to become a leader, to want to start to try new things and love other people.
“This is your camp. This is a place for you. This is your mountain home.”
Anderson Schmig
“They’re given permission to be a kid,” he said. “They’re given permission to have fun, and they’re given permission to try new things, to just start to grow and lead themselves into new places and, most importantly, allow God into their hearts and start to allow him to work.”
Captain Jess Pearce, Southwest Divisional Youth and Candidates’ Secretary, met Schmig in 2013 when she worked as Program Director and he was a junior counselor. The pair ran into each other last spring, and Schmig—who was assistant manager of a Bible camp in San Diego County—learned Camp Ponderosa’s director position was open. He said it was a dream come true.
Pearce said it was a “God-ordained” moment.
“Anderson’s ability to vision and think outside of the box will be huge in shaping camp’s future,” she said. “He is a joyous soul, who loves Jesus and wants to see kids experience God’s love through his creation. I am excited to see how God works through him in this next season of Camp Ponderosa’s growth.”
Schmig acknowledged it is a huge role to step into. Pearce said he is ready.
“As a camper and summer camp staffer he understands what it means for the children we serve—mostly from a desert environment—to escape the heat and experience the peace of the forest,” she said. “He understands how being out in nature can impact your mental health and spiritual growth.”
Since Schmig’s arrival last summer, Ponderosa has created a new website and opened a coffee shop to expand conversational spaces. This summer the team is planning to open a giant horizontal water slide for some slippery fun and has plans to add more water features in the future. Schmig also wants to include more year-round use of the facilities by expanding retreat options for groups.
He said the biggest changes aren’t physical, but instead, philosophical.
“The biggest thing is we’re just inviting more people to be a part of what God is doing here at Ponderosa,” he said, “creating an open invitation to say, ‘This is your camp. This is a place for you. This is your mountain home.’”
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