YMCA envisions growing Camp Mac Boykin
Organization wants Pinewood site to become a year-round retreat location through partnerships
Sumter Family YMCA leaders are looking to grow the historic summer camp facility in the Pinewood area of Sumter County into a year-round retreat location with corporate and church partners.
The local YMCA has operated Camp Mac Boykin on the edge of Manchester State Forest annually since 1952 with thousands of youth attending to enjoy the great outdoors, and organization leaders Derek Burress and Cheryl Huggins recently discussed plans to expand use of the facility with partner assistance.
Sumter YMCA has always owned the camp named after Sumterite "Mac" Willie Shannon Boykin, who started it in the 1950s for area children, but not the 55-acre property, which is leased from the state Forestry Commission.
Through the decades, kids have built friendships, learned how to fish, swim and canoe, and enjoyed numerous other activities, and now Burress, the YMCA's community outreach director, wants to increase the camp's capacity as possibly a "daytime getaway" for corporate partners and other potential uses.
"We want to increase our capacity out here because we have a lot of untapped potential," he said. "The weather is nice enough here that we can use this facility year-round. It's close by to the City of Sumter if folks want to do a little daytime getaway and maybe bring their business out here to come out and just relax and have a little retreat. Do some fishing, grill out, cook a couple meals and things like that."
Huggins, who is Camp Mac Boykin's first full-time, year-round director for the YMCA, is also actively seeking to start church partnerships for youth groups to come out and get back to nature.
Camp renovations have already been underway since Huggins came on board about a year ago to include building more cabins, pond-area resurfacing projects, an automatic gate at the camp's entrance area and new signage.
Regarding the summer camp season, Sumter YMCA's leadership goals include increasing the number of summer campers when school is out, more overnight stays and building a fully functional catering kitchen that requires state DHEC approval, Huggins and Burress said.
Beyond summer camp season, organization leaders envision a bigger resident camp that operates 12 months a year with a full-time caretaker who lives on site and a new main cabin.
That vision would make Camp Mac Boykin like bigger, year-round YMCA camps, such as Camp Cherokee in the Upstate and Camp Thunderbird in the Charlotte, North Carolina, metro area, Burress said.
To reach those goals will partly require people in the Sumter area to become partners with the YMCA, he added. That could include businesses, civic clubs and individuals.
"We're really looking for long-term corporate or church partners to help sustain our needs out here with camp," Burress said. "That can be monetarily, voluntarily or providing materials for construction. Just anybody who would like to become a Camp Mac Boykin partner with the YMCA."
Next year will be the 75th anniversary of Camp Mac Boykin, and Burress said Sumter YMCA will have a big campaign to include a large-scale open house celebration for former campers and community leaders to attend.
The YMCA is looking for anyone to provide memorabilia, photographs, T-shirts or any other items to create a big display for the celebration, he added.