Pecometh For Generations Campaign Launches

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The Pecometh Team is excited to share the launch of our new Pecometh For Generations Capital Campaign effort. We have been working behind the scenes to gather information from you all as our camp friends.

Your responses to our parent/camper evaluations, surveys, and feasibility study helped shape the projects included in the campaign. We will be sharing more about that in the near future, but for now, we would like to introduce our Campaign Steering Team members.

Mrs. Sonja Brown - General Co-Chair. Sonja has a long history with Camp & Retreat Ministries, as a guest, an employee, and as a current member of Pecometh's Board of Directors.
Mr. JR Burkhardt - General Co-Chair. JR worked many summers on staff as a counselor and coordinator, and he previously served as a board member. He also is a former camper and now a camper parent. For the past 13 years, JR has volunteered to lead our annual Friends & Family Camp at Pecometh.
Rev. Tom Carter - Honorary Chair. Tom gave his life to Christ as a 17 year old camper at Camp Pecometh in 1957. This led to a 28 year career as an Army Chaplain. Camp Pecometh called him back from 1993 - 2000 as the Director, and he continues to return annually to volunteer.
Rev. Dave Buchanan - Major Gifts Co-Chair. Dave served as Director of Development at Camp Pecometh from 2007 - 2022. He quickly fell in love with Pecometh and its ministry.
Mrs. Kathleen Hawkins - Major Gifts Co-Chair. Kathleen has served and advised Pecometh's Board of Directors for over 20 years helping Pecometh to make sound financial decisions. Her husband, Jim, is a retired UMC minister.
Rev. Pearl & Rev. Grant Johnson - Congregation Gifts Co-Chairs. Pearl and Grant have always brought their children and youth groups to Pecometh. Now they bring their grandchildren. When COVID shut down the world, they celebrated their 40th anniversary with family at the Pecometh pool. Pearl previously served as chair of the Pecometh Board of Directors and Grant as a Spiritual Life Coordinator.
Mr. Carlton Parker - Staff Alumni Gifts Chair. Carlton was a long time summer staffer, supporter, board member, and has served on previous capital campaigns. He now proudly supports his daughter working on summer staff

Through the feasibility study conducted in 2023, Pecometh discovered two amazing things.

1) Respondents voiced an overwhelming desire to have the summer camp washhouses replaced. The number one complaint we receive from campers and guests is related to our washhouses' lack of privacy and the “ick” factor.

While we have taken countless steps to improve them on a limited budget, the negative feedback continues. Replacing them with single-use facilities that create a more modern feel and are easier to clean and maintain will improve our camper and guest experience.

Our goal is to replace two washhouses by this summer, 2024, and the remaining two by summer, 2025.

Each washhouse will have:

Six toilets and six showers with individual private rooms and exterior exits
HVAC units that make them usable in all four seasons
On-demand hot water systems

2) The study inspired the generosity of Steve Jackson, owner of Green Diamond Builders, who wanted to get started on projects that immediately improve Pecometh.

Green Diamond Builders has done multiple projects at Pecometh in the past, including concrete stair construction at the Marsh Hill Washhouse and renovating the Retreat House bathrooms and kitchens. Steve has generously offered to start construction immediately on two of the four washhouses while extending us interest-free financial assistance while we launch this campaign.

➡️ Currently, plans for the new washhouses are at the Queen Anne's County Planning office. We are blessed to have individuals who believe in our ministry support Pecometh in such generous ways.

As the campaign effort continues to take shape, we will inform you along the way. If you would like to make a down payment on a gift, you are welcome to do that by contacting Augie Lankford.

For now, we invite you to pray for Pecometh, for the campers and young adults who will grow in their faith this summer, and for this shared campaign effort. Together, we will work to remove the "ick factor" and improve our retention rates so we can grow faith, build community, and develop leaders for God's work in this world.

In Christ,

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