By Katie Nold (Tolstoy UMC) | Doreen Gosmire (Dakotas Conference)

Thirteen kids went to camp this summer at a United Methodist camp thanks to Tolstoy United Methodist Church. Tolstoy, South Dakota has a population of 37.  A town on the western prairie of South Dakota where ranching and farming is the main source of income.  Less than 25 members attend worship at Tolstoy United Methodist Church each week.  

Photo:  Kids from Tolstoy enjoy their camping experience at all three of the Dakotas Conference Camps thanks to funds and support provided by Tolstoy United Methodist Church.  Photo submitted by Katie Nold,Tolstoy.

How did the church send thirteen kids to camp?  Funds were raised at a supper on Valentine’s Day. The men of the church serve the “Sweetheart Supper”. 

The meal is planned, sponsored, and put on by the men of Tolstoy UMC. They keep it very simple. Simple is described as a lovely supper of meat, potatoes, rolls, and a vegetable. No one worries about having multiple main dish choices, over-the-top desserts, or fulfilling the food pyramid.

The beginning of the meal starts with prayer and the end-of-the-meal is highlighted by homemade ice cream. A heavenly way to begin and end a meal!

There is no organized “entertainment.” Christian fellowship and rural camaraderie seem to provide the outlet everyone needs during the wintertime of the year. The timing has just turned out to be perfect for this event. It is generally around Valentine’s Day, ergo the “Sweetheart Supper” moniker. Everyone is eager for a chance to just come together and catch up, after getting through Christmas, and with calving just underway or just around the corner.

But in true loaves and fish fashion, the meal seems to multiply in wondrous benefits. The entire community of Tolstoy and beyond generally attends.

Nearly 80 plates of food were served in 2014. Everything is donated—the meat, the ice cream, the rolls, everything. The men can submit their bills as they do have a men’s bank account, but they never do.

The men of Tolstoy United Methodist Church have been doing this for over 10 years now. The meal and mission were the dream of Larry Trefz. He was a mover and shaker behind the supper.  Larry, father of Reverend Steve Trefz, Dakotas Conference Equipper of Lay Servant Ministry and father-in-law of Reverend of Rebecca Trefz, Dakotas Conference Director of Ministry, passed away in August of 2013.

Katie Nold, lay member at Tolstoy United Methodist Church describes it this way,  “While this is a 'men’s' event… ‘they’ certainly cook the meal(!)…this event is successful because everyone quietly pitches in, behind-the-scenes, and does what needs to be done. There are no committees. There’s no set agenda. Just one mission: raise money to send kids to camp. Last year one of the movers and shakers behind the supper died—Larry Trefz. I like that ‘our’ men…just picked up where he left off. He’s greatly missed in so many ways, but I also like how this in some way honors his memory. How he valued the camping.”

When the supper is completed the church continues the ministry by recruiting, registering, transporting, and accompanying the children throughout the community to camps. Recruiting for camp is done mostly by word-of-mouth.  Grateful neighbors, parents, and grandparents that have seen and experienced for themselves the unique ministry a camping experience provides children invite kids to camp.

Many Tolstoy UM church members have served and continue to serve as shepherds and assistant counselors at all three of the Dakotas Conference campsites. The church members gratefully provide rides to and from camp, and do everything they can to assist to get any and all kids to camp.

“We talk up camp at church. We talk to the kids about their camp experience. We just…believe in the camping ministry,” said Nold.