by Adam Delezenne
Camp Westminster has always been a place that we build together. I love how each summer and each week of camp is different depending on the staff and campers that are part of it. Every week of the summer becomes its own unique community. To celebrate every camper’s distinctive mark on our community, each cabin this summer contributed a stone to a Cairn which we built at the closing campfire. A Cairn is a small pile of stones left behind as a marker to show others the way. The Cairns we made this summer will become a lasting marker for future generations of campers.
Camp Westminster is what it is today because of your mark upon it. Each of us, in big and small ways, has impacted camp. Those who choose to donate have a crucial role to play. When you give to Camp Westminster, you make camp possible in a genuine and specific way.
Running a Camp Westminster summer takes a lot of resources: buildings and equipment, the energy and imagination of staff and volunteers, prayers of our supporters, and finances to pay staff, purchase food, supply utilities, and cover repairs.
A lot of the finances to run camp comes from camper fees. If we were to ask families to pay the total cost of running Camp Westminster, a week of camp would cost $810. Fortunately, we received about a third of our revenue every year given freely by our community of supporters. These donations mean we can offer camper families the option of a subsidized week of camp at $550.
That’s a big difference; for many families, it makes a week of camp possible when it would otherwise be out of reach. Camp Westminster is an experience that should be accessible to everyone.
This summer one of our campers left her unique mark on the week with her ukulele. Clair’s family sent her to camp with her instrument, not knowing how we might involve it in the program. TC, our program director, invited her to join him in a ukulele duet at the closing campfire, playing Lord I Lift Your Name on High. Sharing her gift with her camp community made that week unlike any other this summer.
A week at Camp Westminster gives every camper the chance to be themselves and to find a community that welcomes and celebrates them as they are.
This is a ministry we cannot reserve for those with access to wealth. Just as we are called to this work, we are called to open the experience to everyone, especially the most vulnerable in our communities. When you give to camp, you help us open the doors wider, welcoming more into our camp family.
This is your chance to add your stone to the pile and make your mark on the Camp Westminster community. We would not be the same without you.
Make an end-of-the-year gift online or by sending a check to
Camp Westminster on Higgins Lake 17567 Hubbell Ave. Detroit, MI 48235
Have another way you want to support camp? Set up a time to talk with me.
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