Since it's beginning in 1948, the Don Lee ministry has been impacting the lives of children and youth for Jesus Christ through the wind and the water at our beautiful location on the Neuse River Estuary. What started as a summer camp ministry for Methodist youth in NC has grown to 9 weeks of residential summer camp serving more than 1,000 campers each summer from many Christian denominations, including a number of campers who do not have a church home.In addition, Camp Don Lee operates robust “shoulder seasons” with environmental education field trips for students across NC and weekend retreats for churches and other groups.
Please join us with a gift today to help offer an experience that changes lives through the ministry at Camp Don Lee. Your support means we can continue to upgrade and expand our programs and facilities to meet the needs of the ongoing ministry, now and for future generations.
Give today to support the ongoing ministry of Don Lee Camp and Retreat Center. Through the Annual Fund campaign, you can choose to support any of the following program areas: waterfront; facilities and maintenance; faith formation; and creation care.
Making Our Case
2024 Annual Fund - All Hands on Deck
These years are a small slice of youth, but have an outsized, lifetime impact for those fortunate enough to participate. Camp Don Lee has been creating these types of life-changing experiences every summer--and throughout the year---for more than 75 years. Now, more than ever, young people need the summer camp experience to disconnect from technology, focus on social-emotional learning, led by trusted adults, to make friends and grow in their faith. Our program fees, which we want to keep affordable for most families, have not been able to keep pace with the skyrocketing costs of food, utilities, fuel and labor.
Why Do You Support The Annual Fund?
Rev. John Farmer
Camp Director 1977-2015
"Camp provides an experience that’s not really available anywhere else. If camp does what it supposed to do, there is an attempt to make a small Christian community….live in a group, be part of a community moving together for a common good. Camp can provide something very unique and different."
Mott Blair
Sailing Staff/Sail Master 1976-1981
"The camp continues to touch many lives just as it has mine and it is important to support that mission going forward."
Gaynelle Glass
Scott Glass
Gaynelle - Summer Staffer 1960 Widow of Dr. Conrad Glass
Scott - Camper, Summer Staffer, Assistant Director, 1993-96
"...I know the impact that CDL has had on me and three generations of my family... I enjoyed it and appreciated it so much that I continued to find ways to work there for the better part of a decade... The relationships I built there are still the ones that mean the most to me today." - Scott
Want to read more about the Annual Fund? Click HERE to view our virtual mailer.