Vision

Rotary Camps & Services envisions a region with thriving ecosystems and abundant access for all to water, land and recreational opportunities.

Mission

We are stewards of strategic land and water resources, and collaborative innovators who respond to community opportunities.

Our Values Guide Our Decisions

HISTORY

Traverse City's Noon Rotary Club’s first major community service project was to raise funds to establish a camp for youth, believing that all youth would benefit from time spent exploring the northern Michigan wilderness. In 1923, Club president Clarence L. Greilick, an avid outdoorsman, proposed an idea for one of the Club’s earliest projects—the establishment of a community campground, to be used by the 4-H, Boy Scouts, and Girl Scouts, each group having an allotted time for camp use. The membership approved the concept and raised $1,100 to buy some 450 acres of land in the Spider Lake and Rennie Lake areas.

That endeavor proved so successful that a very impressive $7,500 was next raised to purchase an additional 27 acres of land. The new acreage had Rennie Lake frontage and gave the camp excellent facilities for water sports.

In 1955, all  the land acquired was turned over to a new nonprofit corporation called Rotary Camps & Services, the official land-holding arm of the Rotary Club of Traverse City. Rotary Camps & Services owns approximately 1700 acres of property in Grand Traverse County and 17 acres in Leelanau County, known as Discovery Center Great Lakes.

We have also incubated several regional institutions, including Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy, Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation, HomeStretch and NorthSky Nonprofit Network.