When The Whole Town Goes to Camp

Volume 11, Number 1

“God cannot be very far from someone honestly confronting his own experience.”

Howard Butt Jr.

April 2026| David Rogers

Listening for What Matters

President David Rogers reflects on the importance of listening as a leader.

San Antonio Know Your Neighbor

April 2026| Patton Dodd

Dinner Conversations That Change You

These dinners aren’t easy. But they’re worth it—for the conversations, the discomfort, and the courage to keep showing up.

San Antonio Community Engagement Story

April 2026| Bekah McNeel

Widening the Circle for Young Leaders

Pairing service with travel, Students of Service—an organization we came to know through the H. E. Butt Foundation’s Capacity Building Program—invites teens to reimagine their communities and their roles within them.

Faith Laity Lodge

April 2026| A. M. Clark

Elton Trueblood & Questions That Open The Soul

Quaker, Elton Trueblood, shared a radical idea at Laity Lodge that helped shape a national movement of small groups.

News Briefs Foundation Camp Story

April 2026| Kimberley Williams

Moments From the Canyon

Kimberley Williams, Director of Community Camping Programs, reflects her favorite moment in the Canyon her Outdoor School students.

Nature Laity Lodge Poetry

April 2026| Justine Shih

Moments From the Lodge

A Laity Lodge guest reflects on their time at the Lodge.

Canyon Foundation Camp Story

When the Whole Town Comes to Camp

Every year, Irion County Elementary’s fourth through sixth grade students arrive at Foundation Camp whispering about him: Goat Man. Half man, half goat, he sneaks across the Frio River into Singing Hills by night. The older students have seen him and lived to tell the tale.

“The tales have changed over the years. Each new group of kids puts their spin on the stories for the next group, and so Goat Man lives on,” said Irion ISD parent Hunter Elkins.

Irion County ISD is located in the small town of Mertzon, Texas, where everybody knows your parents and grandparents, even your cousins. It’s a place where campfire myths become heritage. Goat Man isn’t an isolated camp legend; he’s part of the thread of Canyon traditions woven through generations.