Late Winter 2021 – Cold Front Moving Through – 2 Hr. Time Lapse
How our Scholarship Funds were used in 2020
How the Deerwood Foundation’s 2020 Scholarship Funds
were used this year.
Due to the havoc that our Covid-19 summer caused when it was decided not to open Camp this summer the Deerwood Foundation immediately received quite a few calls and emails from the Deerwood community at large inquiring if there was something the Foundation could do to help Camp Deerwood out. The Board of Directors worked swiftly to draft a resolution that made the following possible:
This past winter The Foundation’s Scholarship Committee voted to award $125,000 toward camperships for the 2020 summer. This payment was scheduled to be transferred to Deerwood on June 1st to cover the Camp fees for 24 Deerwood boys, including five full-time campers, thus representing 29 half-session Deerwoodspots. By the end of June, the Foundation Board of Directors passed a resolution to still award the 2020 campership money to Deerwood as a pre-payment. The resolution stipulates that Deerwood will pay back the funds in the form of future tuition discounts or camperships, most likely two each year for the next 12 to 15 years. Please be assured that the funds donated in support of this year’s campers have been put to good use and will be paid forward, allowing boys next year and in the future to attend camp when they might otherwise not be able to afford it. This pre-payment has also been immensely helpful towards ensuring that Deerwood is able to meet its unavoidable 2020 expenses including maintenance, taxes and insurance. It has also allowedDeerwood to carry on traditions that help retain campers, such as mailing out 3rd-year fleeces and 6-year blankets. Thanks in part to this resolution, Deerwood will be in great shape and ready to welcome campers in 2021!
The Deerwood Foundation is appreciative of the support we have received in our previous 26 years and it we are pleased to be able to provide the needed financial support to Camp Deerwood so that the campers of the summers of 2021 and beyond will have a Camp Deerwood experience available to them! 😀
Blue/Gray Challenge 2019! Results
Many thanks to all who participated in our first Blue/Gray Challenge. During the month of December we challenged the Blues and Grays to see which team could secure the greatest number of donors. No monetary goal was intended – just numbers of donors. Each new donor to our donor database would earn 2 points for their team. The Blues ended up with 23 donors of which 8 were new donors. The Grays ended up with 24 donors of which 10 were new donors. A close result and the real winners are the boys we sponsor this summer!!
Fall of 2019 – Great Summer & Wonderful Reunion!
Thank You for 25 years of Generosity!
Over 6,300 donations to the Deerwood Foundation have supported nearly 500 camperships for over $1,500,000. From the summer of 1995 with $6,000 in camperships to this past year with over $101,000 in camperships your generous support is helping give boys a summer of adventure and a lifetime of memories. The Foundation is well positioned to continue providing opportunities to those in need. With 25 years of tradition behind us we will continue to make available the “Deerwood Experience” to boys and young men. We appreciate your trust.
The Foundation’s 25th summer of sponsoring boys for a summer of great adventures, first-time experiences and new friends was once again terrific. This summer was Camp Deerwood’s 75th summer and along with a full camp we had a wonderful staff and great weather. A total of 28 half-time equivalent (one 3.5-week session) spaces were filled by boys sponsored by the Foundation.
Two special highlights combined to make this an even better summer! First, we finished building the new Barn/Theater. It was finished in time for the final weekend plays, Parents’ Weekend banquet and Foundation Auction! The new facility fills a need we have wanted for a long time. The Barn/Theater is large enough so that all parents can see and hear the plays and skits! No more peering in through windows hoping to at least get a glimpse of the action on stage!! All the parents can enjoy dinner in one building without tarps and poor lighting. The new bathroom facilities replace the port-a-potty! The simplicity of the new Timber Frame is elegant and the stage facilities are first-rate.
The other highlight came at the end of the summer over Labor Day Weekend. During this time, we hosted well over 200 former campers, counselors and their families to help us celebrate Camp’s 75th summer. The weekend consisted of plenty of time to chat, sing and play. There was a Blue/Gray relay race, many activities were open, and the full waterfront was open for all to enjoy. The Foundation sponsored a cocktail party before dinner. The weekend was warm and beautiful – perfect to sit around and reminisce.
The photos below show the new Barn/Theater:
Spring 2019
The next time you turn off of Route 3 and turn into Camp you will be welcomed with the sight of Camp’s new barn!
Work started in late summer and is progressing well in spite if some challenging weather! This is Camp’s new theater and indoor play area. It is a timber frame (post & beam) barn 68 feet by 40 feet with an attached welcome center with two bathrooms and storage areas. The complete walk-out basement area is clear-span and has a 10+ foot ceiling. It is our hope to have it ready for the beginning of the Camp season. The joinery is all hand done with oak pegs. The rafters and four center trusses are Douglas Fir and all other elements of the framing are native White Pine – some of which was harvested right at Camp!
Winter 2018-2019
Cool weather settled in early this fall with the coolest October, November and December in my 20 years of living at Deerwood. We have had some good snows then a dry spell with cold temperatures. Cold enough that made Squam Lake safe for skating by December 10th. The mirror-like finish is extraordinary and lasts until it snows again. This video gives a great view of what it is like to be skating on “black ice” on Squam. Enjoy!
Fall 2018
Early Fall 2018
We had a wonderful summer and sponsored 24 terrific young men. Please take time to read our 2018 Annual Newsletter. You can find it under About Us and go to Newsletters. There you will read about the diversity of boys we sponsored, comments from a Foundation Camper and from our contact person at the Immokalee Foundation from which sponsor two boys. There is information about the celebration that will be happening during Labor Day Weekend in 2019. Of course, we also report on the results of our Annual Parents’ Weekend Auction and our Annual Fund.
In October of 2018 the BBC and PBS will be broadcasting a live program called: Autumn Watch. This is a natural history program that probes into the nature of what happens with the flora and fauna as winter approaches. They have been producing this program for a dozen or so years in the UK, but this year they brought it to New England and Camp Deerwood specifically. They fell in love with the Deerwood facilities! The broadcast will be from Ty and Ty porch. If you are reading this after the broadcast dates – October 15 – 19 – check the PBS and BBC websites for where you can watch the recordings. We will post more information after we have more information. Exciting!!
Welcome To Our Website!!
July 2018
We are in the middle of our summer season and we are pleased to report that for the First Session (June 24 – July 18) we are sponsoring 15 boys – three of whom are full-timers! In the Second Session we will be sponsoring 11 boys. For the summer we will support the camperships of 26 boys! 20 of these boys have returned for multiple years.
Early Spring 2018
The ice on Squam was officially declared as “out” on April 27th this spring. Our Momma bear emerged from her winter den with her 4 one year-old cubs in mid-March. Spring marches on toward another summer at Camp Deerwood, and our work is now in full swing with getting the remnants of winter picked up and the cabins and waterfront ready for the arrival of the campers. We have 22 “Foundation Campers” coming for all or 1/2 of the summer. We have been lucky to have had a strong applicant pool and enough funds to provide substantial aid to the families of the boys who will be arriving in June and July. We thank everyone who has helped make this a special summer for these young men. The magic of Deerwood will continued to be shared!
January 2018
As promised in the recent Annual Newsletter we are working on modernizing our website and database. With the launch of this new website we are hoping to make it easier for you to stay in touch with us and we with you. We will continue to send out just an Annual Appeal for donations (with minimal reminders), but we also want to communicate with you about “all things Deerwood” without asking for money! To this end we are maintaining three forms of media that allow us to share with you the magic that is Deerwood. Visit us here, on Instagram and on FaceBook. Share your ideas and stories as well via email. Thanks!
Biff Sutcliffe
Check out a tour of Camp in winter:
This picture was taken days before he/she dug a hole in the ground to escape the frigid weather that followed days after taking this picture. We’ll see her/him in March!
