What is UCCR? — UCCR United Camps, Conferences, Retreats (2024)

What is UCCR? — UCCR United Camps, Conferences, Retreats (1)

WHO IS UCCR?

A Brief History of UCCR

  • In 2020, United Camps, Conferences, and Retreats celebrated fifty years of service to groups across the United States. From a modest beginning that many will remember as an experiment, the organization has become known far and wide as an innovative and successful model for owning and operating camps, conference centers, and retreats.

  • In 1970, a group of leaders in Northern California got together to imagine how their individual camps, conference centers, and retreats could mutually support one another and share resources to support their properties, staff, maintenance, food service, and administration. Thus, UCCR was born as a cooperative organization.

  • UCCR managed sites solely in Northern California until 2012, when it began managing a site in Southern California. UCCR expanded east to Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Iowa, and Colorado in the following years. We continue to welcome new sites from all around the USA.

Our Services

  • What is UCCR? — UCCR United Camps, Conferences, Retreats (2)

    Venue Rental

    We offer venue rental space to customers on behalf of the owners of the camp, conference, and retreat properties we manage.

    Learn more

  • What is UCCR? — UCCR United Camps, Conferences, Retreats (3)

    Management Services

    We offer broad-spectrum facilities and operations management services for camps, conferences, and retreat centers.

  • What is UCCR? — UCCR United Camps, Conferences, Retreats (4)

    Consulting Services

    We offer expert customized consulting services to camps, conferences, and retreat center property owners needing guidance.

What is UCCR? — UCCR United Camps, Conferences, Retreats (5)

Venue Rental

We manage camp, conference, and retreat centers across the USA for groups to rent for retreats, workshops, reunions, or training. We have multiple locations to choose from.

Guests

We aim to provide a setting with exceptional hospitality that best fits the program needs of the groups who rent our venues.

  • Applegate, Jesuit Retreat Center

    Aptos, Monte Toyon Camp

    Foresthill, CGC Camp

    Livermore, Camp Arroyo

    San Bernardino Mountains, Loch Leven

    Wilseyville, Camp Lodestar

  • Allenspark,

    Crestone, Blazing Mountain Retreat Center

  • Frankfort, Crystal Conference Center

  • Centerville / Cape Cod, Craigville Retreat Center

We take pride in offering safe, well-equipped facilities, accommodations, outstanding food, and thoughtful services at moderate costs.

About Management Services

Exceptional Operations and Facilities Management Services for Camp, Conference & Retreat Centers.

What is UCCR? — UCCR United Camps, Conferences, Retreats (6)

  • To build relationships with property owners and guests to develop and deliver exceptional services and business resources that empower camps, conference, and retreat centers to flourish.

  • Our approach is twofold: to fully support your program while you and your group enjoy one of our facilitiesand to provide excellence in the stewardship of the properties with which we have been entrusted.

  • UCCR’s expertise in managing and operating camp and retreat properties gives property owners confidence that their facility has a steward who cares about their mission and the missions of the groups we serve.

What Do They Include?

What are our Operations and Facility Management Services encompass?

  • UCCR provides an on-site professional to manage staff, food service, and property maintenance to oversee regulations and compliance.

  • Our marketing and reservations department will advertise and handle reservations for your facility while allowing priority for your programs.

  • UCCR also oversees human resources, finance/accounting, and project management.

  • We are experienced in all phases of site construction and natural resource management for facilities that require more planning before opening the property to outside groups.

  • Our on-site staff seeks to support guests through satisfying food service, clean facilities, and program support.

Benefits

  • Join Our Cooperative

    UCCR is a nonprofit cooperative. By sharing resources, we are stronger and more effective than independently operated facilities.

    As a nonprofit facility owner, you can join our Owner’s Council, which is centralized under a united administrative unit.

  • Gain Financial Strength

    UCCR provides an efficient operational structure, resulting in considerable financial savings and a higher quality of service for our members and the groups we serve.

    UCCR finance and accounting will handle all your needs, from accounts payable to accounts receivable, payroll, reconciliation, and reporting.

  • Increased Bookings

    UCCR Marketing will perform marketing analysis, examine ways to promote your facility, and plan the best strategy to connect your facility with potential customers.

    Our Reservations Team will field questions, handle bookings, and track the customer experience from start to finish.

Inquire

Consulting Services

We offer customized consulting services to property owners of camp & retreat centers.

Our consulting services help you optimize your nonprofit organization's facility and operations management for a better financial position.

We also offer outdoor environmental education programming.

Could your facility benefit from implementing outdoor education camps for youth?

What is WOLF School?

Operating since 1989 with the mission of "Building respect, appreciation, and stewardship within the web of life," WOLF School.

WOLF School excels at working with schools and organizations to connect youth with nature, empower individuals, and strengthen communities, creating life-long learners and global stewards of the environment.

Meet the UCCR Board of Directors

  • What is UCCR? — UCCR United Camps, Conferences, Retreats (8)

    Bill McKinney

    Bill served 14 years as President and Professor of American Religion at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley. He retired from that position in 2010 and is currently active as a consultant, teacher, and writer.

    Bill has held several volunteer positions, including 12 years as a trustee of the Alban Institute. He has also served as Vice President of the Interfaith Alliance Foundation and member of the Executive Committee of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada.

    Bill and Linda McKinney met in the 1960s on the summer staff of the Craigville Conference Center. They married in 1968 and purchased a summer cottage in Craigville in 1980, where they now live. Both have been active in the Christian Camp Meeting Association, which owns the Craigville Retreat Center. Bill is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ.

  • What is UCCR? — UCCR United Camps, Conferences, Retreats (9)

    Peter Winkler

    Peter has long had an affinity for environmental protection, nonprofit support, and volunteer work. A University of California, Berkeley graduate, he earned a law degree from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville.

    A chance meeting in Federal court with a Sierra Club attorney led him to become general counsel for Earth Island Institute and then a board member. His understanding of nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations enabled him to form and represent many groups. Having dipped a toe in many areas of law, he has winnowed his practice down to business and real estate law.

    Peter is German. He was born in London and moved to California at age 7. He first went to the YMCA camp at age 8. He resides and practices in Marin County. He has two grown, very successful, and confident daughters. He swims, hikes, bikes, canoes, car camps, and backpacks in his spare time. He has camped in the backcountry of Death Valley some 30 times.

  • What is UCCR? — UCCR United Camps, Conferences, Retreats (10)

    Jared Gobel

    Jared is a native of Sonoma County. Born and raised in Windsor, Jared attended Cardinal Newman High School before attending the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA.

    After school in the Central Valley and a short stint in Southern California, Jared moved back to the area in 2010, where he has been an active member of the business and non-profit communities.

    Jared is a loss control consultant for George Petersen Insurance, working with clients on OSHA compliance and workplace safety. When he is not working, Jared enjoys spending time with his wife, Sarah, and camping along the Sonoma and Mendocino Coasts.

    Jared also keeps busy with the Active 20-30 Club of Santa Rosa, working to promote and oversee fundraisers and community engagement events and serving on the Board of Directors. Jared and his wife, Sarah, currently reside in Sonoma, CA.

  • What is UCCR? — UCCR United Camps, Conferences, Retreats (11)

    Mike Carr

    Mike currently serves as the President & CEO of UCCR and has been with the organization since 1998.

    Mike worked with the California State Park Blue Ribbon Commission—Parks Forward, assisting in the areas of purpose-driven partnership, revenue generation, and lodging design. For the latter, Mike co-taught a class of graduate students studying architecture at Cal Poly Pomona. The class designed several cabins, one of which was chosen by California State Parks as a model to be used at state parks. That design was called “The Wedge.”

    Mike received his B.S. in Natural Resource Planning and Interpretation from Humboldt State University.

  • What is UCCR? — UCCR United Camps, Conferences, Retreats (12)

    Patricia Parfett

    As a member of the Board of Camping & Retreat Ministries, I have represented the California-Nevada Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church for over ten years, first on the UCCR Board and then transitioning to the Owners Council.

    It is essential to have an active voice representing the Owners Council to the UCCR board and vice versa.

    I am a retired Congregational Care Minister with a lifelong passion for church camps—in fact, it was at such a camp that I received my call to ministry.

    As we somehow move on from pandemic to endemic, our camp and retreat properties are needed more than ever as a safe and stimulating place for people to gather.

  • What is UCCR? — UCCR United Camps, Conferences, Retreats (13)

    Mike Wagner

    Mike is an experienced commercial real estate professional with extensive public and private sector experience. Since January 2013, he has worked with Cornerstone Properties, a Petaluma-based owner, manager, and development company, coordinating and closing leasing, acquisitions, financings, and other transactions.

    Before working for Cornerstone, Mike served as the Real Estate Manager for the County of Sonoma. Mike attended UC Davis and enjoys swimming, snowshoeing, and drumming with his family.

  • What is UCCR? — UCCR United Camps, Conferences, Retreats (14)

    Sam Buehrer

    Sam is an ordained pastor in the United Church of Christ. Sam was ordained in 1988, served three churches in Northwest Ohio, and is currently ministering at Bethel UCC in Evansville, Indiana (Southwest Indiana).

    Sam served as the treasurer on the board of directors of the Ohio Conference UCC (Currently the Heartland Conference), where he was instrumental in the Ohio Conference's contract with UCC to manage their two camps. As a volunteer,

    Sam served as a counselor and directed church camps for over 15 years. For many years,

    Sam and his wife Ellen have spent vacations exploring National Parks across the country. These trips often involve hiking backcountry trails and backpacking.

  • What is UCCR? — UCCR United Camps, Conferences, Retreats (15)

    Alice Meng

    Alice actively supports several non-profits, including UCCR and its outdoor science camp, WOLF School.

    Her work as a product design engineer in the tech industry brings unique skills to her role as a UCCR Board Member.

    Alice has an active family life and enjoys time on the slopes in the Lake Tahoe region.

    Her definitive introduction to the outdoors was a summer as an SCA (Student Conservation Association) intern at Olympic National Park.

    Born and raised on the East Coast, her exploration of the West Coast continues.

First President & CEO of UCCR: Charles Wallace

What is UCCR? — UCCR United Camps, Conferences, Retreats (16)

“Look at what UCCR has accomplished.

Through our work over the past half-century, more than a million people, young folks, families at summer camp, students at WOLF School, and adults of all ages in a diverse mixture of programs.

Many have spent time living and learning in these wonderful places we have maintained and preserved.

We can be pleased, proud, and thankful for the work we have done.And it's not over!

UCCR has a bright future for another fifty years or more.”

What Our Clients Are Saying

  • ★★★★★

    5-Star level! We found everything we needed. They were able to arrange the space for us as we needed it.

    — Judith Morgado, Peace Lutheran Church

  • ★★★★★

    Amazing Facilities and Staff! Thank you so much for all the hard work you put into making our retreat successful.

    — Kathy, Skyline College

  • ★★★★★

    The facility provided a great environment for our groups of students to do both indoor and outdoor activities. Helgesson Hall and Carey Lodge were clean and provided the resources we needed.

    — Julianna Prieto, Stanford School of Medicine, Genetics Department

  • ★★★★★

    The weekend was amazing, and they LOVED their lodging. Loved loved loved. Thank you for all the hard work you and your staff put in, it does not go unnoticed!

    — Kate Nintcheu, Old South Church

  • ★★★★★

    This is the best place on earth for our youth. The low ropes course was great…. Everyone loves the pool. Campfires are always a highlight!

    — Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

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United Camps, Conferences & Retreats (UCCR)
P.O. Box 751090
Petaluma, CA 94975
(800) 678-5102

Applegate| Blazing Mountain | Camp Arroyol CGC| Craigvillel Crystal| Highlands | Loch Leven l Lodestar| Monte Toyon|Web of Life Field (WOLF) School Outdoor Education School Science Camp and Summer Camps

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United Camps, Conferences & Retreats (UCCR) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Rules for acceptance and participation in programs at UCCR are the same for everyone, regardless of age, race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or national origin. Registered 501(c)(3). EIN: 94-1711424
What is UCCR? — UCCR United Camps, Conferences, Retreats (2024)

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