Brantwood Camp, on Old Mountain Road on the Greenfield-Peterborough line, has launched a $1 million capital campaign to rejuvenate the campus and facilities of both the boys and girls’ camps.
“Not everyone knows about Brantwood, but we’ve been here for here for 120 years,” said Noelle Leonard, president of Brantwood’s Board of Directors. “We are looking to get the word out to our local community about who we are and what we do.”
The camp was founded in 1904 by an Episcopalian Reverend Donald Brown and Mary Lyon Cheney to provide an outdoor summer camp experience to boys from urban areas whose families could not afford a summer camp.
Brantwood, which is a registered nonprofit organization, does not turn away any campers who cannot afford to pay.
Friends and supporters of Brantwood gathered Tuesday, Sept. 2, to learn more about the camp’s goals for the future, which inside upgrading the campus and continuing to expanding reach to campers of varied backgrounds.
The camp program focuses on leadership, teamwork, competition and empowering youth.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the girls’ campus at Brantwood.
“Before we were able to build our own girls’ campus, we rented other summer camps in Milford and in Rindge. It has been wonderful to have the girls program right here,” Leonard said.
Robbie Welcome, Operations Director of Brantwood, said the camp has been steadily raising enrollment and staffing numbers. Welcome is also board member, a former camper and counselor, and the grandson of a Brantwood counselor.
“It’s a totally different environment for the campers. It’s amazing to see the kids see the stars for the first time, and to see them learn to appreciate nature,” Welcome said. “We have an incredible program here, and we are really expanding our impact and our reach for kids.’
Welcome said most of the campers come from urban areas in Massachusetts, including the Boston and Lowell areas, as well as New York and New Jersey. This past summer, the camp also welcomed campers from Washington, D.C., Florida and Georgia.
“We teach kids to be leaders, and throughout the course of the summer, we watch every one of our campers grow in different areas,” Welcome said.
Board member and former director Bill Gurney, who first came to Brantwood in 1964, says he owes much of his life success to Brantwood Camp.
“I owe a lot to this place; it really kind of turned me around, in my behavior, got me on the path to college. I became counselor here, and eventually became director,” Gurney said. “It’s had a huge impact on my life, and on so many lives, from such diverse parts of society.”
Gurney credits the competition-based program with inspiring campers to push themselves and excel.
“In our awards program, each cabin is competing with other cabins for various awards, and that really teaches kids how to work together, and to drop some assumptions they might have come with about others. It helps campers come together instead of identify other peoples differences,” he said.
According to Leonard, Brantwod has already raised $650,000 toward the capital improvement campaign. Capital projects include repairs to the roofs, the two swimming pools at the boys’ and girls’ camps, the water system at the girls’ camp, the upgrade of the entrance road culvert, the boys’ camp restroom and family housing.
Leonard said the historic buildings at the boys’ camp have been repaired as needed, while the girls’ camp buildings are now all 30 years old and “aging all at the same time.”
“We’ve done our best with kind of DIY repairs, but it is time for some major upgrades, and we’re excited for the future, ” she said.
The camp is also hosting an online raffle including Red Sox tickets, a Yankee Stadium Sky Box and dinner at the Somerset Club.
For information go to www.brantwood.org.