Former inmates enjoy Metolius River

Ten former California inmates got a new sense of the possibilities of life with a visit to Camp Sherman this summer.

St. Vincent de Paul's Catherine's Center in San Mateo, California started five years ago as an extension of their jail ministry. Their mission: to provide a home where women coming out of prison could be supported for all their needs. The women are in residence for about a year.

The Sisters sought to take the women out of the city and their familiar environment to show them another side of the real world. Sister Marguerite along with Sister Judy and part-time local resident Bear Brown brought the women to Camp Sherman.

Brown, a resident since childhood, now works for Catherine's Center. Working with the women struggling to overcome addictions and abuse inspired her to expose them to the positive wilderness environment where she grew up.

The trip began with an 11-hour drive and ended with settling into their tents and cabin along the Metolius in preparation for the next day's river rafting.

They rafted the McKenzie. Guides Matt Deppmeier, Jon Sheldahl, Jim Inkster, Ted Hogan and Rand Rietman were up at 5 a.m. prepping gear and shuttling vehicles to their end point.

The girls got to launch boats at Paradise Campground five hours later at 10 a.m.

Hogan said, "They were like children in awe of the trees and the river. By the end of the week when the retreat was over you could see the dramatic change in them."

Inkster added, "It was a great day for a transition from a populated Bay Area to be in nature and get in touch with the harmonies of the forest."

On Day 3, after a warm fire and wonderful breakfast, they were lulled into thinking they were walking to the post office to learn some history about Camp Sherman. In reality, Postmaster Karen Sheldahl had a surprise in store.

"Nearly 300 volunteers sent hand written letters to the women addressed to them individually," Sheldahl said. "Some of them had never received a handwritten letter in their life and were overwhelmed by the grace and love that was extended to them by strangers."

Their next stop was St. Winefride's Garden at St. Edwards the Martyr Catholic Church in Sisters. Skip Armstrong, Sisters wood sculptor - who the ladies dubbed Skipangelo - gave them a tour of his sculptures and talked about the creative process.

Armstrong has talked with the women each of the five years the program has operated.

"I always try to tie into their own spiritual journeys and their quest for understanding of the unseen, tapping into their own personal muse," he said.

After time for group sharing and silent reflection, the theme for Day 4 focused on hope and healing and was brought to a close with dinner and a sing-along at a Camp Sherman cabin.

Earlier in the week Dan Odum sang all the songs in the car while driving up from the Bay Area. Granddaughter Kristen typed them on her laptop. They stopped at the Sisters Library to e-mail them to Bear Brown in Burlingame and she printed the "Melodius Metolius Sing-along Book."

Songs like "Old Lady and the Fly" and "Ridin' Down the Canyon" (an old Gene Autry and Smiley Burnett number) brought the former inmates down to earth and in harmony with the residents of Camp Sherman.

One of the women wrote after the event: "The retreat for me opened my eyes to the beauty of life. The streams of life are not always as smooth in my journey. So as I travel down them, I keep in mind that things will be rough ..."