Fifty Years of Service in the Camp & Retreat Property Management Industry
UCCR was officially formed and registered as a nonprofit cooperative organization in 1970 by a group of Northern California clergy who sought to unite their efforts to manage their respective denominational camp and retreat properties. The design was to establish a central office that could handle accounting, reservations, staffing, and property oversight for seven church-owned camps and retreat centers throughout Northern California. UCCR established its first office at the San Rafael First United Methodist Church.
PETALUMA, Calif., Jan. 26, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- United Camps, Conferences & Retreats (UCCR) has announced that the nonprofit camp and retreat management organization will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2020.
UCCR was officially formed and registered as a nonprofit cooperative organization in 1970 by a group of Northern California clergy who sought to unite their efforts to manage their respective denominational camp and retreat properties. The design was to establish a central office that could handle accounting, reservations, staffing, and property oversight for seven church-owned camps and retreat centers throughout Northern California. UCCR established its first office at the San Rafael First United Methodist Church.
In 1998, UCCR moved their office to a downtown office building in San Rafael. In 2006, the central office moved to Petaluma where it is still currently located. While the first thirty-eight years were spent managing camps and retreats in Northern California, in 2008 UCCR expanded to Southern California to manage Pilgrim Pines Camp & Conference Center, a facility owned by the Southern California-Nevada Conference of the United Church of Christ.
Once it was understood that the UCCR central administrative office, located in Petaluma, California, could utilize the same management model at any location, UCCR began to offer facility management services to any camp, conference or retreat center in the United States.
Pilgrim Hills Camp & Conference Center, owned by the Ohio Conference of the United Church of Christ, was the first non-California facility UCCR managed. Since that time, UCCR has begun management of camp and retreat facilities in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Iowa, and Michigan.
UCCR is a unique cooperative model in the camp and retreat industry. All of the properties are owned by nonprofit organizations or church denominations. Member representatives from each of the member organizations make up The Owner's Council. This provides an opportunity for owners to share ideas, participate in UCCR webinars, and work in close partnership with UCCR.
The Mission Statement:
UCCR builds relationships with property owners and guests to deliver exceptional services and business resources that empower camps, conference and retreat centers to flourish.
In 1989, the Web of Life Field (WOLF) School was created as a program of UCCR to provide quality Environmental Education to schools in California. Since that time, WOLF School has grown to be one of the finest providers of science and nature-based education, primarily to elementary school age groups.
Mike Carr, UCCR President since 2005, says, "UCCR works with great customers: nonprofit groups that use the facilities to further their mission then return to improve their communities."
The organization is planning a special event to commemorate the 50th anniversary year. Past and current staff, board members, and friends of UCCR will gather in March 2020 to celebrate this unique business in the camp and retreat property management industry.
For more information about facility management services, visit camppropertymanagement.org.
To see the facilities we serve, visit Uccr.org.
Contact us at 800-678-5102
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SOURCE United Camps, Conferences & Retreats
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