“My experience here was life changing. Being around your wonderful staff and all these awesome young adults has changed my perspective on life. I will leave here a better person. ”
When you visit Westminster Woods, you leave transformed. We strive to reignite the embers within each of our participants by creating opportunities for connection, growth, and belonging. No matter how you are connected to the Woods, we invite you to deepen your connection by becoming a supporter today. Learn how to contribute to the work we do at the Woods and what your donations help fund below.
FEATURED FUND
At Westminster Woods Summer Programs, we foster character development in young people through spiritual exploration, social inclusion, and environmental awareness. Immersed in over 50 years of summer camp history, campers are swept away in a tidal wave of games, forest excursions, ropes course adventures, and sacred traditions culminating in an unforgettable summer camp experience!
We want to make our incredible summer programs available to every camper regardless of their ability to pay for camp. Contributions to the Summer Programs Fund go towards providing scholarships for our summer programs which includes Camp Heartwood, Camp Soulspring, Woods to Waves, The Grove, and Friendship Camp, as well as our weekend programs. In addition to providing direct scholarships to families in need of financial support, donations to this fund also help underwrite our Summer and Weekend Programs which allows us to keep the cost of camp low for all families. This year, our goal is to raise $10,000 by May 31st for our Summer Programs Fund, so that every camper who wants to can have a transformative summer camp experience at Westminster Woods!
HELP A YOUNG PERSON EXPERIENCE CAMP THIS SUMMER!
Ways to support the Woods
All donations to Westminster Woods are tax-deductible. If you have questions about donations, please contact us at 707-874-2426 or info@westminsterwoods.org.
Become a Redwood Sustainer
Redwood Sustainers are donors who commit to making a monthly donation to the Woods. This program is beneficial to both donors and the Woods alike. For donors, it allows you to donate a small amount at a time so you never have to plan for a large sum coming out of your bank account. For the Woods, monthly gifts help us plan for the whole year with a greater knowledge of how much income to expect from donations. Starting this year, all donors who commit to donating $20 or more per month will be invited to three “Redwood Sustainer Days” throughout the year. During Redwood Sustainer Days, we open up our grounds to monthly donors to hike, walk our labyrinth, and enjoy spending time at the Woods. Choose “Donate Monthly” on our donation form to become a Redwood Sustainer today!
Make an In-kind donation
We use a lot of stuff at the Woods and gladly accept donations of new or used tools, equipment, and supplies. Our most pressing need at the moment is camp vehicles which help us respond to maintenance calls, move material around the property, shuttle people up the hill, and respond to emergencies. We are currently down to one working golf cart and just two pick-up trucks. Having working vehicles is a vital part of ensuring that our programs run smoothly! Click below to view a partial list of items that we need.
If you are interested in making an In-Kind donation, contact Chris Rhodes at chrisr@westminsterwoods.org or (707) 874-2426 ext. 632
Share your woods story
“The staff here are like family and the campers are able to sense that. The Woods provides a safe haven for the broken-hearted and the lost, allowing them to feel like they belong somewhere. This place is filled with so much love, and is a place where we can look past our own brokenness and that of others, which in turn allows us to openly receive healing with God. I am so grateful to be a part of this family and work side by side with them to love on the kids.”
-2023 Summer Staffer
Every year we receive similar reflections from our community. Whether they’re entering our forest for the first time, or have called it home for years, our participants share that they experience positive growth and authentic belonging guided by the love that flows through our programs.
The experience you have at Westminster Woods is powerful. So are your words. If you cannot contribute financially, consider sharing your own Woods story with your community. Visit our Facebook and Instagram pages to share our fundraising posts. Add a short note about how the Woods has impacted you and ask that your community supports Westminster Woods with a donation.
Where do your donations go?
When you donate to our general fund, your money goes where it is needed most. With a camp as old as Westminster Woods, our facilities and grounds are in need of consistent tending. Financial contributions or donations of tools, supplies, and time help us complete much needed repairs and improvements to our site. Learn more about the projects that donations helped us complete in 2023 and our planned projects for 2024 below.
Building Maintenance
Many of the buildings at the Woods were built in the 1970’s and 80’s and are starting to show their age. In 2023, donations from our general fund helped us replace the Boxcar’s roof. This was a major project, all done in-house, and cost the Woods around $20,000 in materials. Without our generous donors, projects of this size cannot be completed.
The Homestead is also in dire need of a new roof and we plan to replace it in 2024. In addition to this essential repair, we will be installing skylights, new light fixtures, a new carpet, and new fans to brighten up the room and make it more comfortable. The estimated cost of this project is $30,000 and we hope to fund it, at least in part, through donations.
Cabin Improvement
Like most of our buildings, the majority of our cabins were built in the 1970’s and 80’s and receive almost daily use. Donations help us make simple repairs and improvements so that these aging buildings continue to fit the needs of our guests.
Repairs
In 2023, we put donations from our general fund toward renovating Cabin 14 to make it a cozier and more comfortable experience. We replaced the roof and deck to address a leak, reworked the exterior siding, added new light fixtures, and gave it two new coats of paint. Several of our cabins could benefit from this type of renovation in 2024 and a project similar to this will cost the Woods $8,000 for each renovated cabin.
Adding interior Bathrooms into Cabins
In 2023, with the help of a generous donation, our Buildings and Grounds team completely renovated Cabin 17 to meet the needs of guests with physical disabilities. Cabin 17 was expanded by 12ft, a shower and toilet were added, and we built and installed new bunks. We also installed a new fuel efficient direct vent heater and water heater, along with a new grinding/pump station. This project was funded with donations and cost a total of $25,000 in materials. In 2024, we hope to remodel two more cabins to include interior bathrooms. When you donate to the Woods, you help us make projects like this possible.
Pool MAINTENANCE
Our pool was originally built in 1957 with a donation of $1 from every member of the Presbytery of the Redwoods. Since then, it has provided countless hours of fun, especially for our Summer Camp Programs. From swimming during free time, adventurous night swims, and even log rolling competitions it has been an integral part of the classic summer camp experience. Over the years, we’ve expanded the pool area to include bathrooms, cabins, a fence, and more. In 2023, we updated the pool filters and plumbing to new energy efficient pumps which helped us reduce our utilities this summer. But, over the summer, we also discovered that the pool lining needs to be replaced. We hope to do this project in 2024 so that our pool can remain a place for swimming, jumping, and splashing this summer. This would be a major project and would cost a minimum of $25,000 in labor and materials.