03/12/2026
When Laura transferred to SIU, she experienced both the excitement of college life and the loneliness. As a non-traditional student more than six hours from home, quick weekend visits werenât possible. Growing up in church youth group, she missed the sense of belonging it provided, so she began searching for that same connection in a college ministry.
At the time, the Wesley building was full of the comfortable chaos that happens when students truly claim a space as their own-mismatched couches, an ancient television, and rooms where students gathered between classes to talk, laugh, and simply exist together. It wasnât polished, but it felt real. Students shared meals, lingered between classes, and built friendships. Laura quickly found what she had been missing: a community where people knew her name and where faith and friendship blended naturally.
Danielâs path to Wesley began in a similar way. Like Laura, he had been deeply involved in church growing up. But when he arrived at college, that support system disappeared overnight. Without the relationships he had known before, his days became quieter and lonelier.
Everything changed when a friend named Kirk invited him to Wesley.
What Daniel found there was the same thing Laura had discovered: community. Wesley became more than a weekly gathering. After worship, students often went out for ice cream, played games, or stayed late talking. There were retreats at Little Grassy Camp, mission trips, small groups where students encouraged one another in faith, and plenty of spontaneous fun.
Through it all, friendships deepened. Somewhere in the middle of those friendships, Daniel and Laura met.
Laura eventually decided to stay in Southern Illinois for the summer and took a job as a lifeguard at Little Grassy Camp, the nearby United Methodist camp. Daniel was taking summer classes but started visiting the camp in the evenings. Before long he was there almost every night. The staff noticed him and, as Daniel jokes now, simply started putting him to work. The following summer, both he and Laura joined the summer staff.
Those summers changed Danielâs life.
âWithout the Wesley Foundation,â he says plainly, âI would definitely not be here at camp.â
What began as a college job eventually became a calling. After years of volunteering and helping with projects, Daniel stepped into the role of Facilities Manager at Little Grassy Camp, where he now helps lead the ministry that first captured his heart.
Laura pursued her own professional path and became a dentist, but the camp- and the faith community that shaped their relationship- remains central to their familyâs life. Daniel has now been connected to Little Grassy for more than thirteen years. In that time, he has watched children arrive as nervous first-time campers and return year after year, growing in confidence, kindness, and faith. Some of the campers he first met as elementary students are now graduating from college.
A single week at camp may seem small, but the impact is enormous. Daniel notes that the time campers spend with counselors in one week often exceeds the time they might spend in youth group over an entire year. Families consistently report meaningful changes: stronger interest in faith, greater empathy, healthier relationships, and a desire to spend less time on screens and more time outdoors.
For Daniel, those changes are proof that these spaces matter.
The Wesley Foundation shaped Daniel and Lauraâs lives in another lasting way: it gave them a place where their relationship- and eventually their family- could begin. They met there, built friendships there, and discovered a calling there. Eventually they married and began building a life together there. Today they are raising two children and remain deeply connected to the ministries that helped shape them. Daniel now serves on the board of the Wesley Foundation, helping guide the ministry that once welcomed him as a student.
Laura describes it best: âWesley was a home away from home. It was like a second family.â
For two homesick transfer students searching for connection, that community made all the difference. What began as a simple college ministry became the starting point for a lifelong story- one that includes a marriage, a family, and a ministry that continues to shape the lives of young people.
Today, the Wesley Foundation still offers that same sense of belonging to students navigating the transition into adulthood. But ministries like this only continue when people believe in their impact.
Because sometimes the smallest invitation- a friend saying, âYou should come check this outâ- can change everything.
Daniel and Laura know that firsthand.
And thanks to the generosity of supporters who believe in this ministry, the next student who walks through those doors might just find the same thing they did: a community, a calling, and a place that becomes home.
