photo by: Contributed

The Bromelsick Camp's shed can be seen on the right side of the photograph near the pickup truck in the background. The shed was broken into over the weekend of March 22-23, 2025, and thousands of dollars of tools and equipment were stolen.

A Boy Scout troop preparing for a campout recently found Douglas County’s Camp Bromelsick in disarray. To their shock, someone had completely emptied a work shed of thousands of dollars in equipment and had cut down nearby trees.

“Walking into the shed after the theft was like a scene from ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas,'” Michael Riling, with the Camp Bromelsick Foundation, told the Journal-World.

The 160-acre camp just north of Clinton Lake has been available to youth organizations including the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, church groups and schools at no charge since 1961, Riling said. In 2015 the camp began raising money and collecting property donations to build a work shed to store a large collection of tools and equipment to maintain the land.

“Chainsaws, generators, screwdrivers, monkey wrenches, pipe wrenches, rakes, shovels, and countless other tools were all gone. Ten years’ worth of donations, valued at several thousand dollars, vanished overnight,” Riling said.

The scout troop found that someone had first attempted to break into the Camp Bromelsick property by cutting the hinges on the front gate and damaging the lock. When that didn’t work, they began cutting trees down in the surrounding area to clear a path for a 4X4 to drive onto the property, Riling said.

photo by: Contributed

A lock that has been drilled out by thieves to gain access to the Bromelsick Camp’s maintenance shed.

photo by: Contributed

A path where trees were cleared for a 4X4 to gain access to the Bromelsick Camp.

The shed’s lock was drilled out and nearly everything inside was taken. The camp must now work to replace the damaged gate and locks, as well as try to replace the stolen equipment, Riling said. In addition, a major water leak was found on the property, which will need repaired.

“The loss severely impacts our ability to maintain the property and continue offering free access to youth groups,” Riling said.

The theft happened over spring break on one of the few weekends out of the year that Camp Bromelsick didn’t have a group of youths staying overnight.

Riling said he has filed a report with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and the incident is under investigation, but in the meantime he is appealing to the community to help the camp recover by launching a GoFundMe and asking for other support through its website.

photo by: Contributed

A gate at Camp Bromelsick.

photo by: Google Maps

The red marker indicates Camp Bromelsick just north of Clinton Lake.