TEAM CAMP Roll Call
Stewardship News from the Mountain Top
Join TEAM CAMP and be a part of making a difference!

Volunteer and Help Camp
Grow Stronger

All the benches in Camp were collected in one place, refinished, and painted.  Cutting the lower branches of the trees on the west, north, and south side of Camp seemed like an endless task.  Raking and collecting forest debris, hauling it off, and creating a thirty-foot clearance around the cabins takes the most stamina.

However, nothing compares to cleaning up and refurbishing the maintenance cabin after 25 years of one maintenance family after another, moving in and out.  By spring, this cabin will be ready to welcome a new caretaker and their family.

It all makes me think how dedicated the volunteers were in the 1960s setting foundations for cabins brought up the winding highway 38.  It is amazing how creative a group of over two dozen volunteers can be.

By volunteering, we create and maintain a sacred space up on the mountain–a place with dynamic programming run by volunteers.  A place where we grow stronger together.  The Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregations, fellowships, churches, and societies in the Pacific Southwest Service Area are the owners of Camp de Benneville Pines (Camp) and it shows in the work and efforts of dedicated volunteers.  We grow stronger by collaborating with each other, working toward strategic goals, and finding time to relax together. 

Consider attending Camp events and advertise these events among your friends.  As one article in the UU World put it, “Derived from the well of spirit, human beings have always drawn the hope that is required to survive constant crises.”  Ever since our banner year in 2019, Camp de Benneville Pines has been experiencing setbacks to our growth. 

However, our committees, Board members, and large donors have continually developed patches and solutions to survive the constant crises.  Despite the pandemic, two wildfires, employee issues, and three tropical type rainstorms, we are still here. 

Our strategic plan calls for the need for more volunteers of all talents. Join a Camp committee and provide the infusion of new people needed to grow programs at Camp de Benneville Pines!   Volunteer efforts built de Benneville Pines and must continue to sustain camp for years to come. Also, become a new monthly giver!  Increase your monthly giving.  Give more than you have before.  Recurring unrestricted gifts and legacy estate gifts are still needed to sustain our retreat center.   

Camp de Benneville Pines, a Unitarian Universalist campus operated by the Pacific Southwest Service Area UU Congregations is here to nourish your lives and with your volunteerism and support, will remain a forest retreat to nurture spiritual health, far into the future.

Save the Date!
Join us in San Diego!

The third annual Pacific SW Service Area Assembly sponsored by Camp de Benneville Pines will be at First Unitarian Universalist Church in San Diego on April 25 to 27, 2025. 

Thank you for your new ideas,

Dale Botts
Stewardship Committee Chair and Board of Directors VP
De Benneville Pines, Inc. (dba: Camp de Benneville Pines)
dale.botts2@gmail.com
714.686.2791
(he/him)