Unicamp Needs Your Help

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Dear Unicamp community,

We are reaching out with some important news about Unicamp after what has been a very challenging spring. For those who are not aware, there have been two significant events at Unicamp, and we have been working diligently with the help of volunteers, outside professionals, and several different fundraising campaigns to respond. We are grateful for all this love and support for camp! 

The first event was an ice storm at the beginning of April this year. This ice storm has necessitated that the camp replace its hydro system, which we plan to do in Fall 2025. In the meantime, it has been temporarily restored and a new electrical panel has been installed. While insurance will cover the replacement of our hydro line into Camp, we have at least $25,000 in uninsured damages, costs and losses. In addition, there were many downed trees in the camp, which have taken significant time and money to clean up. Our sincere gratitude goes to the many volunteers who literally moved mountains of tree debris in an inspiring demonstration of community spirit and support!

The second event was learning that we would not receive funding this year from the Canada Summer Jobs grant that has been supporting the hiring of youth and young adult staff to run our programs for many years, including our children and youth programs. While we have taken concrete steps to ensure the best possible chance of securing the grant in 2026, this means that we are short approximately $61,000.00 this year, which is part of our operations budget. The board and senior staff have been working incredibly hard to adjust the roles, responsibilities and hours of key senior positions to compensate for this loss and ensure that running camp goes smoothly for this critical year as we respond to this burden. We have also come to the challenging decision to pause our wage equity efforts for this year in response to the current burden on the camp and our collective need to ensure its survival over the next two years and its long-term success. To be clear, the board and senior staff are in complete agreement on the importance of wage equity, and will seek to address this need in 2026, with details of the plan to be released later in the Fall of 2025.

These two events leave us with an immediate budget shortfall of $86,000. We are grateful those who have already made a contribution and helped us to raise over $20,000 towards offsetting this shortfall through our Operating Fund Campaign and Faithify Ice Storm Recovery fundraiser. There will be reductions in staffing and budget lines to reduce this shortfall to the degree possible mid-year, but we will need significant financial support to ensure the viability of Unicamp in 2025 and 2026.

How Can I Help?

We have been asked by many people how they can help, and we are moved by the responses from our Unicamp community through donations and volunteer efforts. If you are interested, here is how you can help:

• Share this webpage (https://unicampofontario.ca/unicamp-needs-your-help-2/) with your friends, family, and congregation on social media, as well as with others you think might be interested in supporting the camp financially;
• You can also invite people to donate to the Operating Fund, which will help support the camp’s operations directly, including staff wages;
• Volunteer! We would welcome additional volunteers to support the committees (working groups) in the areas of finance, human resources, fundraising, property and policy review work. Volunteers to continue the storm related clean-up and with programs and other tasks are also needed.

Thank you again for your support of camp and understanding during this challenging time.

In faith,

The Unicamp Board of Directors and Senior Staff

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