Ben Lomond Quaker Center, located on over 80 acres in Ben Lomond, Calif., offers programs and retreats in line with Friends testimonies. Quaker Center strives to live in right order with all creation, especially the redwood forest where it sits in the Santa Cruz mountains. Founded in 1949, the center is celebrating 75 years.
Since its beginning, the center has offered overnight summer camps for children and young people to live among the redwoods, collaborating in recent years with Pacific Yearly Meeting’s youth programs. This year there were two weeklong camp sessions instead of one.
The first session was for younger campers (rising fifth–seventh graders), while the following week was a teen service camp for older campers (rising eighth–tenth graders). Camp staff and counselors are composed almost entirely of former campers. Beloved activities like campfires, swimming, and night hikes are combined with daily silence, group decision making, and worship sharing.
A family workcamp is held later in the summer. This year it brought over 100 people to work on improvements to the campus and facilities, and spend a week together in celebration and fellowship.
To mark the seventy-fifth anniversary, Quaker Center hosted a series of events and celebrations August 30–September 2, including a workcamp, meeting for worship in the redwood circle followed by a potluck and rededication ceremony, and an open house and birthday party.
Comments on Friendsjournal.org may be used in the Forum of the print magazine and may be edited for length and clarity.