Camp de Benneville Pines
41750 Jenks Lake Road WestAngelus Oaks, CA 92305
February 27, 2010
Dear Fellow Camp de Benneville Pines Supporter,
As president of the Camp de Benneville Pines Board of Directors, I often have the opportunity to engage with people in conversation about our wonderful mountain retreat center. And each time I do, I am usually told by the person to whom I am speaking: “I love Camp de Benneville Pines!” with a very strong emphasis on the “love”.
And what’s not to love? The beautiful alpine setting with snow capped mountains, towering pines and sturdy oak trees; the comfortable cabins, the delicious food, the life-enhancing programs, our friendly and dedicated staff led by the charming and gracious camp executive director, Janet James. All of these things make Camp de Benneville Pines an unforgettable experience for those fortunate enough to spend a weekend or a week here.
I’m doubly fortunate, because as camp president, I get to come up to camp often, and witness miracles. You know, Unitarian Universalists are not ones to speak freely of miracles. We’re rationalists, we like to tell ourselves, and magic is not part of our lexicon. Yet one of the most scientific and brilliant minds our species has produced to date, Albert Einstein, once said: “There are two ways to view life. One is that nothing is a miracle. And the other is that everything is a miracle.” He chose the latter, and so do I.
When you see a child wonder at snow falling from the sky for the first time, or at viewing the milky way and millions of other stars stretching across the night sky; when you see church congregations transformed into close knit communities in a single weekend; when you see a young person at a PSWD Youth Camp or at Camp Bravo discovering in themselves talents and strengths they didn’t know they had; when you hear of young people maintaining strong ties to a Unitarian Universalist institution long after they have left their birth families and the youth camps they attended at de Benneville; when you talk about the “interconnected web of life” and you can see, smell and feel that you are a part of nature rather than apart from nature, then you are witnessing everyday miracles.
I think most of us who “love” de Benneville do so because we have been given back as much as we have given. Love is easy when it is reciprocal. It is those times in life when the object of our love is in need and can’t give back in full measure, that really tests our love. And this is just such a time at de Benneville.
Water is the life blood of our camp. Without it we cannot serve food. We cannot offer showers. There would be no pool or hot tub. Drinking water would arrive in plastic bottles, and we could not even provide sanitary facilities other than pit toilets. Every human being is more than 60 percent water. Without it for more than a few days, we die. And without it, for more than a brief interval, our camp would also die.
The underground system that brings water to our kitchen and our cabins is, for the most part, 50 to 70 years old and is comprised of galvanized iron pipes. The useful lifespan of such a system is around forty years. The system is seriously corroded and has suffered frequent breaks. It is due for catastrophic failure at any moment. And what would happen in such an event? We would have to cease operation until repairs could be completed, a process that could take months, depending on when and where the failure occurred and the extent of the damage. In that time we would lose revenue, and possibly clientele, since outside users (some of whom are our largest source of income) would take their business elsewhere and might not return. Overall, our sacred mountain retreat could suffer a financial loss that would not be recoverable and de Benneville could be lost to us forever.
Few people realize how close we have come to this fate on many occasions. Last spring, had we not decided to install new valves at our water tank, we would not have discovered that the outlet from the water tank had ruptured and was leaking underground. We were able to temporarily bypass the problem and are still running with a temporary fix. But, because of the hidden nature of this problem, we could have lost our water supply and been down for many weeks or months while we dug up pipe all over camp looking for the leak. Four winters ago, the water line that runs into the Director’s cabin burst in the middle of winter and froze underground. We had to run a garden hose into the Director’s cabin for four months until the ground thawed and we could dig up the line to replace it. Last summer the feed line into the pool collapsed and we lost over half our water supply overnight. That time it required careful camper rationing and a “no shower policy” to recover from the lost water. Yes, our water system is crying out for help and we would be remiss if we didn’t take immediate steps to rescue it and our camp while we still can.
That is why I am asking every Camp de Benneville user and, indeed, every member of the Pacific Southwest District (each of whom owns a piece of de Benneville) to express their unconditional love and generosity by making a gift of or a pledge to purchase a foot or more of pipe at $150/foot. Please review the Water Works! Capital Project by clicking on the icon, at left, to determine where you fit on our schedule of giving. We need every person who can participate to give as much as they are able in order to reach our goal of $450,000.
Don’t let this beautiful, sacred and irreplaceable mountain retreat be lost to our UU faith forever. Please give generously to “Water Works!” Click on the icon at left to learn more about our Water Works! Capital Project and fund drive.
Sincerely,
Thomas Thorward, President
Camp de Benneville Pines Board of Directors