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Wednesday, November 10, 2021
RTT PHOTO BY RON GIOFU Bryerswood Youth Camp Optimist Club (BYCOC) president Kathi Poupard (left) and vice president Cathy Robertson (right) hold up signs showing the plans for the future of the Bryerswood camp. The club officially purchased the former Girl Guide campsite on Texas Road in late October.
Plans unveiled for Bryerswood youth camp By Ron Giofu One phase down, more to come for the Bryerswood Youth Camp Optimist Club. The club now owns the former Girl Guide camp, which was once known as Camp Bryerswood and is now the Bryerswood Youth Camp Optimist Club Camp. The sale closed Oct. 29 with the purchase price being $430,000, though fundraising efforts are targeting $500,000 to help cover fees or unforeseen costs with the purchase. The Bryerswood Youth Camp
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Optimist Club (BYCOC) has raised about $262,000 thus far and received a $250,000 loan from an anonymous “social investor” to help pay the remainder of the costs, though the latter has to be paid back over a fiveyear period. “Thanks to the support of our social investor, donors and others who have given us so much help with their expertise in many ways, we are beginning our new adventure as owners of the Bryerswood Youth Camp Optimist Club Camp,” said BYCOC president Kathi Poupard. “It will be the place for our youth to learn, grow and make
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amazing memories.” While the club has purchased the camp, they describe the work as being at the beginning stages as fundraising has to be ongoing to not only pay back the loan, but to make the necessary upgrades to the campsite. Grant funding helped pay for a landscape architect to design a new look for the camp, one that will feature, among other upgrades, new tent areas, new buildings including a new dormitory and new main lodge building, yurts, a new parking lot, a pond expansion, and upgrades to the existing dining hall building.
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“They are transitioning this from a former KOA trailer park to a youth camp,” said Poupard. “All of our buildings will be accessible.” Existing cabins will eventually be replaced and the main lodge building currently on site will be torn down and replaced, the latter having been constructed in 1972. “We want it to be a carbon-neutral camp,” BYCOC vice president Cathy Robertson. “Part of our programming is environmental sustainability for our youth.” Continued on Page 14
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