BY KAREN BOSSICK

Camp Rainbow Gold will continue at Cathedral Pines for the foreseeable future, even though the organization has purchased the Soldier Mountain Ranch and Resort near Fairfield.

The nonprofit organization has to embark on a master plan process. It will also have to remodel cabins and other buildings and will most likely have to add cabins, said Elizabeth Lizberg, executive director of the camp.

“We do not have a clear timetable when we will actually be able to use the property,” she said. “In addition to housing, we also want to build all the recreational amenities, such as a climbing wall, hiking trails and archery course.”

The Nancy and Rich Robbins Foundation pledged $1.25 million to pay for the 172-acre property, with the sale announced this week. The Robbins had pledged a $1.76 million matching donation of land near Triumph earlier, but the proposed retreat was turned down by the Blaine County Commission.

The current facilities at Cathedral Pines, a Baptist camp, does not have a lot of the amenities that are needed for children with special needs, Lizberg said at the time.

The Robbins’ purchase of Soldier Mountain Resort on behalf of Camp Rainbow gold means that the capital campaign the organization is about to embark on can be used to remodel existing facilities and build new ones, Lizberg said.

The campaign has been called “A New Place Like Home.”

Soldier Mountain Resort has 26 buildings, 21 of those cabins. Its use as a golf course was discontinued in 2015, but the facility has been rented out to various groups since.

Lizberg said Camp Rainbow Gold hopes to share the new facility with other organizations that have a similar vision to enhance the lives of children who are fragile or have unique medical needs.

The camp has a full medical team on site that will be augmented by Fairfield’s volunteer fire and ambulance service and a small medical clinic.

The camp will use medical services in Mountain Home, Ketchum and even Twin Falls and Boise as the  need arises.

“Our vision is to be an Idaho medical camp. There are none in the state,” Lizberg said.

The distance from Hailey to Camp Rainbow Gold’s current camp at Cathedral Pines is 21 miles; the distance from Ketchum, 13 miles. The distance between Hailey and Soldier Mountain Resort is 49 miles.

Lizberg said she hopes the increased distance doesn’t deter the many volunteers from the wood River Valley from Boulder Mountain Clayworks and other organizations who have worked with the children.

 “The Wood River Valley has long supported us. And we have been talking to our supporters, we’ve stayed in close contact with them, about coming to Fairfield and still being a part of camp experience,” Lizberg said. “We hope the Wood River Valley will come along with us on this journey.”

Camp Rainbow Gold will have a camp for teens with cancer, a camp for youth with cancer, a camp for siblings of those with cancer this summer. It will also boast two family retreats.

The family and sibbling camps are already maxed out.

"The Family Camp for spring had to turn away 13 families this year. so that's great motivation for us to get the new site up," said Lizberg.

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