Christ UM Helps Shasta Camp Construction

Santa Rosa -- August 22, 2005

Christ Church UM in Santa Rosa helped build a retreat center at the Cal-Nevada Conference's Shasta Camp August 15 to 21, and is looking for a team of helpers.

Even though the camp has existed for 60 years and attracts 800 users annually from the conference and general public, it has never had a retreat center per se. It has a small chalet with stoves and its own power generators, but basically visitors rough it. A retreat center will enable the camp to accommodate more visitors, especially those with physical disabilities. It will have a meeting room for 70 people and a dormitory for 40. Estimated cost is $340,000 beyond the volunteer construction labor.

Shasta Camp is a non-profit mission outreach of the Shasta District Methodist Mission, Inc., and gives no money to the conference. A camp purpose is to the help people experience the glory of God through breathtaking views of Mount Shasta -- or, quoting from its official statement, it provides "a place of retreat where all may encounter the Creator's Spirit in self, in others, and in the world of nature, and thus develop a conviction of our shared responsibility for the stewardship of all creation." Methodists received a permit from the U.S. Forest Service in the 1940s to use and further develop the site on Scott Creek.

The camp is isolated at 5,000 feet, with most of its visitors coming June through October. Winter visitors have to come in on snowshoes.