Fifty Years of Service in the Camp & Retreat Property Management Industry

PETALUMA, CALIF. (PRWEB) JANUARY 26, 2020

United Camps, Conferences & Retreats (UCCR) has announced that the nonprofit camp and retreat management organization will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2020. 

UCCR was officially formed and registered as a nonprofit cooperative organization in 1970 by a group of Northern California clergy who sought to unite their efforts to manage their respective denominational camp and retreat properties. The design was to establish a central office that could handle accounting, reservations, staffing, and property oversight for seven church-owned camps and retreat centers throughout Northern California. UCCR established its first office at the Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Franscisco.

Over the years, UCCR has partnered with many non-profits to manage such as The Lighthouse for the Blind and the Optimist Foundation to manage their camp facilities.

In 1998, UCCR moved their office to a downtown office building in San Rafael. In 2006, the central office moved to Petaluma where it is still currently located. While the first thirty-eight years were spent managing camps and retreats in Northern California, in 2012 UCCR expanded to Southern California to manage Pilgrim Pines Camp & Conference Center.

Once it was understood that the UCCR central administrative office, located in Petaluma, California, could utilize the same management model at any location, UCCR began to offer facility management services to any camp, conference or retreat center in the United States. 

Pilgrim Hills Camp & Conference Center, owned by the Ohio Conference of the United Church of Christ, was the first non-California facility UCCR managed. Since that time, UCCR has begun management of camp and retreat facilities in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Iowa, and Michigan. 

UCCR is a unique cooperative model in the camp and retreat industry. All of the properties are owned by nonprofit organizations. Representatives from each of the organizations make up the Owner’s Council. This provides an opportunity for owners to share ideas, participate in UCCR webinars, and work in close partnership with UCCR. 

The Mission Statement: 
UCCR builds relationships with property owners and guests to deliver exceptional services and business resources that empower camps, conference and retreat centers to flourish. 

In 1989, the Web of Life Field (WOLF) School was created as a program of UCCR to provide quality Environmental Education to schools in California. Since that time, WOLF School has grown to be one of the finest providers of science and nature-based education, primarily to elementary school age groups. 

Mike Carr, UCCR President since 2005, says, “UCCR works with great customers: nonprofit groups that use the facilities to further their mission then return to improve their communities.” 

The organization is planning a special event to commemorate the 50th anniversary year. Past and current staff, board members, and friends of UCCR will gather in March 2020 to celebrate this unique business in the camp and retreat property management industry. 

For more information about facility management services, visit camppropertymanagement.org
To see the facilities we serve, visit Uccr.org
Contact us at 800-678-5102 
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California Camp Perseveres After 1960 Forest Fire to Celebrate 60 Years of Residential Experience

The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Northern California-Nevada celebrates the Community of the Great Commission's 60th anniversary at region's Annual Gathering

MICHIGAN BLUFF, CALIF. (PRWEB) APRIL 30, 2019

The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of Northern California- Nevada recently held their Annual Gathering in Sunnyvale, CA. A time of celebration included a cake for the 60th birthday of their camp and retreat center, The Community of the Great Commission.

In 1959, John Holland and Josh Wilson, ministers with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Northern California-Nevada, began to search the California foothills for land to develop a camp for youth and adults to enjoy the great outdoors and participate in the unique aspects of residential camp and conference experiences.

They found a property located in Michigan Bluff, near Foresthill, CA, in the California Gold Country, at an elevation of 4000’. After negotiations with the land owner, the members of the Christian Church Region voted to purchase the land.

Even as they began development, in August 1960, almost exactly one year after the purchase of the camp property, a devastating forest fire swept through the foothills of Foresthill and severely damaged the camp forest. Nearly 80% of the trees were a loss and in some areas, the ash was 2 feet deep.

Nonetheless, the people of the region persevered and began building in earnest. In 1963, the retreat house, known as Claar House, which was named after Adelaide Claar, a laywoman from the San Jose Christian Church who made a sizeable donation, was begun. This building served as the indoor kitchen and dining area for more than 30 years until a larger, more commercial style dining hall was built in the late 1990’s.

In 1965 and 1966, respectively, eight cabins and a lodge were built, giving groups an indoor meeting area and sleeping quarters. Since then, many amenities have been added such as a swimming pool, amphitheater, and a variety of recreation areas.

The impact of these camp and conference centers that were built across the United States by church denominations in the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s have had an everlasting impact on those who participated in this center of teaching, learning, and relaxing in a natural setting, set apart from the daily grind and technologies of life “down the mountain.”

Sixty years have passed since John Holland took church members up an old logging road to explore this forest on the ridge. American life has changed significantly with a much faster paced life than might have been imagined in 1959. Perhaps now more than ever, camps such as these offer modern people an opportunity to unplug and experience a simpler surrounding.

The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of Northern California- Nevada recently held their Annual Gathering in Sunnyvale, CA and celebrated the 60th birthday of their camp and retreat center, The Community of the Great Commission, with a cake.

The Community of the Great Commission is managed by United Camps, Conferences and Retreat, a camp and retreat management cooperative.

"On behalf of United Camps, Conferences and Retreats, we congratulate the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) on the 60th Anniversary of their beautiful camp and all of the people that have had wonderful experiences there," writes Mike Carr, President of United Camps, Conferences, and Retreats.