1 of 2
Courtesy Bay Cliff Camp
Bay Cliff Health Camp
Activities at the 80-year-old Bay Cliff Camp provide fun and therapy.
2 of 2
Courtesy Bay Cliff Camp
Bay Cliff Health Camp
Games like “Crutch Club Soccer” are organized to make use of children’s abilities at whatever level.
The Michigan shoreline of Lake Superior is dotted with camps: old fishing camps, new hunting camps, even bible camps.
But in Big Bay, just outside of Marquette, one camp stands out. High on a cliff overlooking the sparkling waters of Lake Superior, the 170 acres of Bay Cliff Health Camp are home to the Lake’s largest, and oldest, year-round camp mainly serving disabled children.
The 80-year-old program to inspire and cheer children got its start over a picnic lunch.
Dr. Goldie Cornelieuson, a field physician for The Children’s Fund of Michigan, and Miss Elba Morse, a nurse supervisor at Northern Michigan Children’s Clinic, traveled the Upper Peninsula working with malnourished children. They dreamt of offering a program to provide children with housing, the chance for outdoor exercise and three square meals a day.
One warm summer day in 1933, Dr. Goldie and Miss Elba stopped at Big Bay to picnic on the grounds of an abandoned dairy farm. As they sat under an apple tree, enjoying lunch and looking around them, they saw more than abandoned buildings. They saw the magic that the Lake and such spacious surroundings could create; they saw their dream of a children’s camp coming true.
The two women raised $8,500 – a huge sum during the Depression – to purchase the property and in 1934 opened Bay Cliff Health Camp with 107 impoverished children attending. Dr. Goldie became the camp’s first director. By the end of the summer, the malnourished children had collectively gained 562 pounds – Goldie and Elba’s prime objective – and went home healthier. Bay Cliff Health Camp was a success.
Since then, the camp has grown in size and services almost every year.
In the late 1930s, it added services to children with diabetes. In the 1940s, it offered physical and occupational therapy to rehabilitate children with polio and cardiovascular disease. Programs for speech and language difficulties were added in the 1940s, and Bay Cliff developed mainly into a therapy camp for children with physical disabilities.
In 80 years, Bay Cliff has only had five directors. Tim Bennett, the director since 1988, attributes the commitment and longevity of Bay Cliff’s staff to the camp itself. “I came here because I was so enamored with Bay Cliff’s mission and the people involved. There’s so much goodness here, so much belief in the human spirit and the potential for people with any kind of struggle to do well. … Bay Cliff becomes so central to your life.”
Tim and his wife, Dianne, raised their daughters at the camp and their children spent summers living in the cabins with the other kids and making friends.
Today, the camp offers or hosts roughly 40 programs each year, most geared toward children with disabilities and their families.
Bay Cliff also runs Camp Independence, a weeklong session for disabled adults.
“Our main focus will always be children, but we run a one-week recreational program for handicapped adults every August,” says Karen Schlicher, the camp’s assistant director and educational coordinator.
When not offering its own programs, Bay Cliff is a host site for other organizations. The Upper Peninsula Children’s Bereavement Network uses the site for its Camp Star, a program for children who have lost a loved one.
“Our main program is still our original children’s therapy camp, held for eight weeks each summer,” says Karen. “About 160 children, ages 13 to 17, attend that camp session, which runs during June and July.”
Campers live in cabins with about six children and at least one counselor in each. Summer sessions have about 130 staff members, more than 70 of whom are therapists and counselors.
Days at Bay Cliff are filled with physical, occupational and speech therapy, but with a fun twist, Karen says. “We have activities like any camp would have – arts and crafts, nature and recreation – but all the activities are deliberately focused on building skills and confidence. When they’re doing a clay project in crafts, that’s occupational therapy. And when they’re doing archery, being able to pull back a bow, that’s physical therapy.”
Bay Cliff gives first priority to U.P. children. “After we process the U.P. applications, we might have 15 or 20 spaces left. The majority of those will go to campers from downstate and the Midwest, but we have campers come from all over the United States,” Karen says.
Local children generally are referred by school therapists and family physicians. Many children attend more than once.
“Because of the nature of their disabilities, many of our campers return each year,” Karen says. “Our focus is on helping them to live a fuller life and to attain as much independence as possible. It’s a long-term commitment.”
With one counselor for every two to six campers, Bay Cliff staff and campers develop strong bonds.
Lydia Person, a 17-year-old from Rapid River, Michigan, born with spina bifida, has attend Bay Cliff for 11 years. “When I think of Bay Cliff, the first word that comes to my mind is family. Every summer, I leave with a new skill or friendship. … Bay Cliff is different than home. At home people look at me differently, but at Bay Cliff, it doesn’t matter what you look like. It’s the inside that matters.”
Bay Cliff’s summer campers can return in winter for a weekend of fun and therapy. Campers spend the weekend dog sledding, ice fishing and skiing.
“For those who need more assistance, all of these activities can be adapted,” says Karen. “We’re good at getting everyone on skis, no matter what their ability.”
Far from resting on its laurels, Bay Cliff has big plans that include a growing endowment, improvements in the camp facility and more programs.
Bay Cliff’s finances have remained relatively steady over the years. Most funding for the annual $1.25 million operation comes from individuals, service agencies and businesses. Some comes from grants. It costs about $6,000 per child to pay for programming, but U.P. families pay only $100 of the cost thanks to ongoing fundraising. Children outside of the U.P. pay about $3,500.
“The community really supports us because Bay Cliff is a place where people’s lives are changed,” Tim says. “But more than anything, our support really comes from the amazing energy this place generates.”
That energy started 80 years ago with a bright idea at a shoreside picnic, and the vision may continue for 80 years more.
“Bay Cliff is a place where people’s dreams come true, and not just for the children,” says Tim. “It also changes the people who work here. It changes everyone.”
Lesley DuTemple is an award-winning children’s author from the Upper Peninsula who says when she writes for this magazine, she continues to discover more about her U.P. neighborhood.