REBUILD THE LODGE

Click on the three images directly below to read article updates on the lodge.

Photos as of March 23, 2021, courtsey of Erinn von Pohle

Photos as of March 8, 2021, courtsey of Les Zollbrecht

FUNDRAISING

The Urgent Need to Rebuild the Lodge

As we contemplated the reality of an empty campus during 2020, a unique and urgent opportunity presented itself. The iconic BLYC Lodge was in a state of emergency. To begin with, the roof had major leakage issues. In attempting to deal with repairing the roof, a recent engineering report informed us that we were unable to conduct the repair without bringing the entire building up to current building code for our heavy snow loads. Unfortunately, reinforcing the existing buildings was not a feasible option. So, after three years of assessments and proposals, the final conclusion was that we are unable to repair the roof without rebuilding the entire Lodge.

The Role of the Lodge

The Lodge is the most essential building in the camp operations of Big Lake. During a typical summer, approximately 1,000 meals a day are served from this building; and classes, worships, Bible studies, and activities all happen in the Lodge. When we have a rainy day, the Lodge houses the majority of our campers, and provides a space to play 4-way volleyball, and do other activities. Simply put, it would be logistically prohibitive to operate summer camp without the Lodge. It would also be potentially catastrophic for Big Lake to be closed another year to accomplish this project of rebuilding the Lodge.

Cost and Logistics

The estimated cost of rebuilding the Lodge is $3 million. The Forest Service has been deeply supportive of this project happening during 2020 and helped clear the way for us to move forward. We have partnered with Shearer and Associates to undertake the building project.

Big Lake Strong

The strength of Big Lake Youth Camp is you–our community. All of us who have sent our kids to Big Lake, or attended ourselves, or worked as a staff member, or volunteered as a medical professional, boat driver, RAD camps pro, winter host, or Maranatha volunteer, believe in and fight for this special place. Big Lake is our camp. It has been a haven to PCT hikers, lost snowmobilers, and thousands of campers who have found safety and support in the uplifting message of love lived out on these sacred grounds. A project of this magnitude, especially in this climate, is only happening because God has laid a burden on the hearts of this community to preserve and protect this special place.

The Urgency of this Moment

So, this is the urgency of the moment: we have a small window of opportunity to accomplish the most urgent building project we have had at Big Lake in decades, during a year when camp is forced to close. We have a long way to go to complete the funding for this project. We will be working throughout the winter and need help to complete the $3 million goal.

If you would like to make a donation using a credit card, click this link: PayPal Lodge Donations. If you would like to mail in a donation for the Lodge, make checks out to, “Big Lake Youth Camp”, write “Lodge project” in the memo section and send to our business office: Big Lake Youth Camp, 19800 Oatfield Rd, Gladstone, OR 97027

If you would like to make an online donation and have Big Lake received all the donation with no processing fees taken out, click the link below for donation via Adventistgiving.

If you would like to make a one time donation, OR set up recurring donations, click this link to give via PaPal: