By Dave Burfeind | Director, Lazy F Camp and Retreat Center
During the A Place at the Table campaign to construct a new dining hall at Lazy F Camp and Retreat Center, an anonymous donor provided a pledge of $100,000 to match, dollar for dollar, each gift that would be given in a three month window. This gift would be a tribute to two saints who gave generously to help improve the program and facilities at Lazy F: Foster and Virginia Searls.
Foster made tremendous improvements with our facilities, creating beautiful cabinets. Virginia was the chairperson for our Site Advisory Team and spear headed our efforts to get the campaign for the new dining hall off the ground.
The response to the donor’s challenge truly was a gift from God. The Searls were admired by several groups within United Methodist circles and other organizations within our state. During this three month window, over $160,000 was pledged and given! With the anonymous donor’s matching gift, $260,000 was added to the campaign in this 3 month window!
This Fall, it is our goal to realize a similar response in a short period so we may begin construction on the new dining hall. In these Fall months, pledges and gifts of $300,000 will help us to reach $1.2 million or 80% of our $1.5 million campaign goal. We know this is a big number, but God has blessed the ministry here at Lazy F and continues to provide for the success of the campaign.
Our plan is to hold three different kick off banquets and implement several other smaller events. This spring two banquets were held to benefit the Place at the Table campaign. The events had a great feel to them; it was like a camp reunion with some additional folks who were just being introduced to Lazy F. Each banquet had about 100 people in attendance. The program was brief and the meal was delicious. Those in involved responded generously with their donations to the campaign: over $86,000 was pledged and given on those two nights!
