New Kent County church camp faced with closing

Makemie Woods has been serving a variety of people from New Kent, Williamsburg, Charles City, and other localities for the past 40 years. The church camp, located in the Barhamsville area of New Kent County and operated by Presbyterian Church USA and the Presbytery of Eastern Virginia, has offered facilities to hold retreats, areas for outdoor recreation, and summer camps for youth. Now, Makemie Woods may not be an option in the future.

The Rev. Mike Burcher, director of Makemie Woods, said that due to tough times in the economy coupled with lack of funding from Presbyterian sponsors, operations may come to a complete halt.

“It’s been really tough,” said Burcher. “We just haven’t been able to get the funding like we used to. At first the Presbyterian community was giving us less funding, and now it’s either little or no funding.”

Funding has gotten so low that a scheduled “Community Play Day” event to help raise money on Oct. 13 has been cancelled.

“People have called us and asked if we were shutting down and it’s hard to tell them if we are or not,” she said. “They are like ‘oh no, I went there as a kid’ and ‘I don’t want to see it go, keep it open.’ Hearing those things make it much more difficult.”

The camp avoided being shut down on Sept. 1 when money was raised by entities to postpone a decision. Now, a vote by Presbytery of Eastern Virginia officials on Oct. 23 could determine the fate of Makemie Woods.

While the camp remains open right now, Burcher said she is looking for any type of help from anyone to keep the facility running.

“Basically, we are looking for donations, fundraisers, any sort of thing that can help us and help us turn around quickly,” she said. “We need a lot of money and need to show that the camp will continue to strive and move forward.

“Even if the camp does continue, we’re going to have to keep making money to sustain its longevity,” she continued. “We raised $6,000 to prolong the vote, but it’s going to be the awareness of the situation that is more important than the money that will help keep us going.”

Burcher can be contacted at (757) 566-1496 or online at www.makwoods.org.