Capital Campaign
In the last ten years, we have expanded our services and programs offered significantly. We’ve outgrown our current space and are in the middle of a capital campaign to raise funds to rebuild our facilities in Zilker Park. The goal of the capital campaign is to raise $3.5 million dollars to build the low income youth we serve a facility they deserve. As of October 2011, we are grateful to be the recepients of a $500,000 MATCHING grant from the Mabee Foundation! This puts our fundraising total at $2.4 million dollars!
We are working to begin construction in the fall of 2012 with completion in the spring of 2013 so there will be no interruption to our services.
We will rebuild the main building, activity center and pavilion at Zilker Park. The Zilker Park Facility was built in 1932. The structure was last renovated in the 1970’s. It is now outdated and lacks the security, storage and weatherizing to be used year-round. It is no longer adequate to provide a safe haven for our campers, students and staff. At present, our Zilker Park campus hosts 80 campers each session. With the rebuilding of the Zilker facility, we will increase camper capacity by 50%. Four additional (2 boy, 2 girl) dorms will enable 40 more low-income children to have the experience of going to summer camp each week. It is important to build the new facility to address the growing number of campers we serve each summer as well as to enable us to better serve our Sunrise students. Our construction plan will use the same footprint as the existing facilities and increase space with a two-story structure. This will address the issue of preservation of the environmental and ecological sensitive areas unique to Zilker Park. The new facility will also have the capacity to provide space for all Austin YMBL Sunshine Camp staff including administrative and development personnel. This will allow our staff to function more efficiently since we will be in the same space.
For more information or to donate to this campaign in support of the Mabee Foundation matching grant, please contact Jennifer Repass at Jennifer@sunshinecamps.org or 512-968-0138.
