Old House, New Standard

Wanakee has long been the beneficiary of donated time and talent, and we continue to need gifts of skill and passion. Cabins, landscaping, trails, picnic tables, docks, and more need you! I hope you’ll attend one (or both) of our work days on May 6 and June 3 to help prepare our 227 acres and 20+ buildings for the summer season. Friends and fellowship abound.

As you’ve hopefully seen, the farmhouse renovation, our largest construction project since the new shower house was built in 2007, is in full swing. The first weeks have brought remarkable progress.

Through this project, we’ve charted a careful course for major improvements and established precedents that will define how we approach and complete future site development. The Facilities Committee initiated a rigorous bidding process using detailed plans developed by a professional architect. After careful vetting and comparison, we selected and contracted with a highly regarded construction company to make our signature building weatherproof and complete years of deferred maintenance. Once the project is finished, the building envelope will be sealed, and we can begin to chip away on upgrades to the interior.

*Day 1 (March 28, 2017), red siding removed.*

It was important that the materials used were modern and low maintenance while retaining the look and feel of our oldest building (dating back to 1803). As such, the colors will stay the same, and the craftsmen of Caledonian Carpentry will use contemporary materials to closely mimic the look of centuries past. Our red siding will be fiber cement, the trim will be white PVC, the windows will match in a 2 over 2 pattern, and replacement doors will match old patterns.

We are fortunate to have funds remaining from Together for Tomorrow, a Conference capital campaign completed in the early 2000s, available to cover the first third of the project. Another significant portion was raised through the 2015 and 2016 Wanakee Wilderness 5Ks, as well as recent donations to Friends of Wanakee.

To finish line the project, we have capitalized on funds available to us for capital improvements, held at the United Methodist Foundation of New England, and given to Wanakee over many decades. Those gifts are suitable for this project, but also represent the best seed money available to us for future major improvements. We have stretched ourselves financially, and now we’d like to ask for your financial support.

A donation to the farmhouse project sends a powerful signal that you support the bold vision of Wanakee’s Facilities Committee and Board of Directors to strive for permanent repairs, completed by paid professionals when necessary, built to last decades.

With that in mind, I invite you to sponsor part of the building. A window, a square foot of siding, a door, a linear foot of trim. In keeping with the long running Wanakee tradition of “we built that so we put our name on it,” your name will go on a plaque or other permanent commemorative marker, a marker that campers and staff will wonder about in 50 years. The all inclusive costs for these items (materials, labor, etc.) are:

$9.42 = cost of one square foot of red siding ($94.20 = 10 Square Feet)
$46 = cost of one linear foot of trim ($184 = 4 linear feet)
$847 = cost of one window
$1,450 = cost of one door (6 needed)

If you are a current, recent, previous, or longtime donor to Wanakee, thank you. Gifts of all sizes are incredibly impactful for a small, spirited institution like ours (truly). I challenge you to think about how much camp means to you, your family, your friends, and/or your church, and what you know of our impact. I invite you to imagine your kids, nieces, nephews, grandkids, and great-great-grandkids spending their summers at Wanakee in 20 years. In 50 years. In 100 years (when the farmhouse will turn 314!). A gift today defrays immediate costs, and allows us to confidently start asking: “What’s next?”

*Progress as of April 11, 2017. Housewrap applied over original siding.*

In the last 12 months, you’ve shown incredible signs of support for Wanakee, and I believe we’re just getting started. Your gift in 2017 brightens our future, amplifies our momentum, and moves our mission forward.

Grace and Peace,

James Tresner, Executive Director

P.S. if you’re interested in supporting this important project and have questions about the above, please get in touch by phone or email!