Camp Firwood is a Christian summer camp situated on Lake Whatcom, southeast of Bellingham, Washington. It is part of "The Firs", a Christian camp and retreat ministry that is in good standing with the Christian Camp and Conference Association. [1] [2]
Camp Firwood was founded by Otis and Julia Whipple, who gathered 35 people for a five-day retreat at their property overlooking Lake Whatcom in July 1921. This was the start of what would become a multi-site, multi-program organization now called "The Firs". In 1954, a group of 30 Junior High campers paddling on Lake Whatcom landed on a camp site which they called "White Sands". With the permission of the property owner, the first week-long resident camp took place on this 80-acre (32 ha) property, which soon become known as Camp Firwood. In 1955, Camp Firwood was purchased for $35,000. [3]
Today, Camp Firwood runs ten weeks of camp for youth 7–18 years of age, and houses up to 260 campers a week. The camp now encompasses 118 acres (48 ha) of beautiful forest, 4,500 feet (1,400 m) of waterfront, and its own private island. [3] They host day camps and resident camps, both of which are co-ed. [4] In 2010, they opened a new 12,000-square-foot (1,100 m2) dining hall, dubbed the Centerhouse, to more adequately accommodate the growing number of campers. [2]
Also in 2010, the camp finished in the Top 5 for "Best Fun Place for Kids in Western Washington" by King5's Evening Magazine . [5]
In June 2019 Camp Firwood made the news for firing Jace Taylor as a counselor at Fircreek Day Camp for being gay. [6] The decision was made after a camp leader came across Taylor's profile picture on Facebook which showed him with his boyfriend. [7] The camp released a statement that corroborated Taylor's assertion that he had been fired on the basis of his sexuality saying, "It became evident in the hiring process that he did not personally align with our Doctrinal Statement (regarding sexuality in particular). In this case, in order to be consistent to our Mission and Doctrinal Statement, we unfortunately had to withdraw our invitation to this young man, who we truly like, for this summer staff role. [6] [8] " Taylor had been a former camper, as well as his mother and maternal grandmother. This controversy led to The Opportunity Council terminating its more than 25-year-long kitchen lease with The Firs. [9] The lease provided Opportunity Council with a fully equipped, commercially licensed kitchen, which would be used to provide meals for children in Head Start and Early Childhood Assistance and Education preschools throughout Whatcom County. The lease paralleled the school year, which complemented The Firs’ busiest schedule of meal production in late spring to early fall. [9] Cancellations as of Friday, June 21, represent a loss of 4-7% of registrations. [9]
Although its main attractions are at the waterfront, Camp Firwood also hosts a variety of other activities including paintball, arts and crafts, a 10-stage high ropes challenge course, a 20 ft (6.1 m) climbing center, archery range, soccer field, basketball court, 3.8 ft (1.2 m) skateboard ramps, and a beach volleyball court. Water activities include a swimming beach, two aqua jump trampolines, an aqua swing, kayaking, canoeing, sailing, waterskiing, wakeboarding, and tubing. [3] They also have a "blob." [10]
Bellingham is the county seat of Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It lies 21 miles (34 km) south of the U.S.–Canada border, between Vancouver, British Columbia, 52 miles (84 km) to the northwest and Seattle 90 miles (140 km) to the south.
Acme is a rural unincorporated community, and census-designated place in Whatcom County, Washington, United States. There is a general store, post office, gas station, diner, elementary school and two churches located there. Acme is also included in, and the source-name for, a larger census-designated place (CDP). The Census Bureau no longer tracks the population for the village itself, but for the entire CDP the population was 229 at the 2020 census, down from 246 at the 2010 census.
Everson is a city in Whatcom County, Washington, United States. The population was 2,888 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the fifth Largest city within the Bellingham Metropolitan Area.
Marietta-Alderwood is a census-designated place (CDP) in Whatcom County, Washington, United States. The population was 3,906 at the 2010 census. Parts of Marietta-Alderwood were annexed into Bellingham in 2019, while the rest remains an unincorporated area.
A summer camp or sleepaway camp or residential camp is a supervised overnight program for children conducted during the summer vacation from school in many countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer residential camps are known as campers. They generally are offered overnight accommodations for one or two weeks out in an outdoor natural campsite setting. Day camps, by contrast, offer the same types of experience in the outdoors but children return home each evening. Summer school is a different experience that is usually offered by local schools for their students focused on remedial education to ensure students are prepared for the upcoming academic year or in the case of high school students, to retake failed state comprehensive exams necessary for graduation. Summer residential and day camps may include an academic component but is not a requirement.
Garibaldi Provincial Park, also called Garibaldi Park, is a wilderness park located on the coastal mainland of British Columbia, Canada, 70 kilometres (43.5 mi) north of Vancouver. It was established in 1920 and named a Class A Provincial Park of British Columbia in 1927. The park is a popular destination for outdoor recreation, with over 30,000 overnight campers and over 106,000 day users in the 2017/2018 season.
The Bellingham Slam are a semi-professional basketball team that formerly competed for seven seasons in the International Basketball League. Before joining the IBL, they played two seasons in the American Basketball Association. They were originally expected to play in Everett, Washington, but were relocated to Bellingham, Washington under the ownership of John Dominguez. The team currently competes in the annual Seattle Pro–Am basketball tournament organized by Seattle, Washington native and former National Basketball Association (NBA) player Jamal Crawford.
Bellingham International Airport is three miles (5 km) northwest of Bellingham, in Whatcom County, Washington, United States. BLI covers 2,190 acres (886 ha) of land, and is the third-largest commercial airport in Washington.
Camp Tawonga is a 160-acre residential Jewish summer camp located on the middle fork of the Tuolumne River, a few miles west of Yosemite National Park, in the Stanislaus National Forest. The camp operates as a non-profit organization and is affiliated with the Jewish Community Center Association. The camp is located in Groveland, California, although the nearest town is actually a tiny area called Buck Meadows. Tawonga has its main office in San Francisco. Many attendees come from the San Francisco Bay Area, but attendees from Israel, Los Angeles, and other states are often present as well.
King's Schools is a private Christian school, serving preschool through 12th grade, located in Shoreline, Washington, United States. It is the largest single-campus Christian school in the state, and is part of the CRISTA family of ministries.
The Bellingham Railway Museum was a nonprofit museum located in downtown Bellingham, Washington, USA, that displayed a pictorial and text history of railroad traffic in Bellingham and Whatcom/Skagit Counties, as well as a large electric model railroad, an exhibit of railroad lanterns, and a train simulator based on Microsoft Train Simulator software. A research library was also hosted. It opened in 2003 and was volunteer operated until its permanent closure in June of 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
YMCA Camp Fitch is a year-round camp in North Springfield, Pennsylvania, owned and operated by the YMCA of Youngstown, Ohio. Prior to 1914, all summer camps operated by the YMCA of Youngstown were experimental and temporary in nature. Since its founding in 1914, Camp Fitch has hosted campers every year to date. Originally a program of the YMCA's downtown branch, Camp Fitch now exists as a YMCA branch owned by the YMCA of Youngstown.
Camp Airy is a Jewish sleep away summer camp located in Thurmont, Maryland at the edge of the Catoctin Mountain Park. Boys between the ages of 7 and 17 attend for one to seven weeks, depending on their age and interest. Airy is a fully accredited member of the American Camp Association. Camp Airy is the brother camp to Camp Louise.
Canoe Island is a 47-acre (19-hectare) island located in the center of the San Juan Islands, an archipelago in the U.S. state of Washington. The island is situated in Upright Channel between Shaw and Lopez Islands. Canoe Island's surface is mostly forested with second-growth cedar, fir, hemlock, and madrona, with some old-growth trees, too. Its maximum elevation is 127.7 feet. The rocky shoreline is bordered by dense forests of bull kelp.
The St. Methodios Faith and Heritage Center is a 223-acre (90 ha) camp run by the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston and located in the town of Hopkinton, New Hampshire near the village of Contoocook. The site occupies the former village of Cloughville and had previously been home to Camp Merrimac.
Camp Canadensis is a seven-week, co-ed, overnight camp located in the Pocono Mountains region of Monroe County, Pennsylvania, US. Camp Canadensis is made up of campers primarily from New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; however, there are campers coming from other nearby states. Facilities include a 75-acre (300,000 m2) private lake, indoor and outdoor hockey rinks, a 2,500-square-foot (230 m2) gymnastics room, indoor, and outdoor basketball courts, two heated pools, a 9,000-square-foot (840 m2) art center, a high ropes adventure course, a low ropes team building circuit, a 40-foot (12 m) high rock wall, horse stables, a golf range, an all-weather outdoor amphitheater, and 16 tennis courts, 12 of which are lit for night use.
Camp Kabeyun is a summer camp for boys founded in 1924 by educator John Porter. It sits on 85 acres on the south end of Lake Winnipesaukee in Alton, New Hampshire. Kabeyun's program is designed to encourage boys' individual growth, self-awareness, and confidence in the context of community living. Boys at Kabeyun choose their own activities each morning and again at lunch. Activities include land and water sports, projects such as photography and leather working, and adventure trips, often in the White Mountains. Kabeyun has a high staff return rate and many counselors who are former campers. Former camper and counselor Josh Wolk wrote a memoir, Cabin Pressure, based on Kabeyun.
The Gateway Pacific Terminal was a proposed export terminal at Cherry Point in Whatcom County, Washington, along the Salish Sea shoreline. It was announced in 2011 and would have exported coal, but was opposed by local residents and the Lummi Nation, who had an ancestral village site at Cherry Point. The terminal project was rejected by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2016, ruling that it would infringe on the fishing rights of the Lummi Nation.
White City was an amusement park located at Lake Whatcom's Silver Beach in Bellingham, Washington.
Brant Lake Camp is a sleep-away summer camp located in the Adirondack Mountains in Brant Lake, New York.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)