Alkulana History & Information

 

Camp Alkulana is a year round ministry of the Richmond Baptist Association with a targeted summer ministry to inner city children.

The camp has been in continuous operation since it began in 1915. The kerosene lanterns, which shone from the windows of the first cottage, appeared as bright eyes shining through the forest. Thus, the Indian word, "Alkulana," meaning "bright eyes" became the official camp name.

Camp Alkulana is located in Millboro Springs, Va, deep in the Alleghenies. The proximity of the camp to the George Washington National Forest provides it with boundless space and endless program resources.

Some of the activities offered are hiking, cave exploring, camping out, cooking out, rock climbing, rappelling, ropes course, swimming, crafts, Bible study and worship.

Above all, Camp Alkulana seeks to provide an experience in which the camper will come to realize, through various activities and relationships, that he or she is a person of immeasurable worth and potential who is loved by God.

 

Camp Alkulana Mission Statement
(Adopted by the Camp Alkulana Support Team, January 13, 2003)

Camp Alkulana exists to make a difference in children’s lives by revealing God’s existence as reflected in nature and His love as demonstrated in camp leaders and proclaimed in His word and worship.
      • Children are provided adventure-challenge activities in a safe, nurturing environment.
      • Counselors are provided leadership training and opportunities for spiritual and personal growth.
      • RBA churches are provided mission service opportunities and access to a retreat facility.

 

Camp Alkulana Values
(Adopted by the Camp Alkulana Support Team, January 13, 2003)

        • Awareness of God’s love through Jesus Christ.
        • Physical and emotional safety.
        • Acceptance of all.
        • Awareness and appreciation of the natural world.
        • Development of interpersonal relationships.
        • Physical, cognitive and spiritual challenges.
        • Opportunities to experience success.
        • Opportunities to use unique gifts to advance the Kingdom of God.
        • Having fun.

     

Meet the Director

Gracie Kirkpatrick came to Camp Alkulana as a counselor when she was a college student in her home state of Florida. All it took was one summer to get hooked on Alkulana! She’s been coming back since, as counselor, volunteer, and since 1978 as director.

She received a BME from Stetson University in DeLand, Florida and an MA in Christian Education from the Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond, VA.


Before taking the reins to Alkulana, she taught school in Florida then moved to Richmond to direct the South Richmond Baptist Center. During the early years of her Alkulana leadership, when Camp Alkulana was a “summer-only” ministry, she was music and youth director in a local church and later went back to work with inner-city families at the Hillside and Oregon Hill Baptist Centers. * In recent years with the expansion of the Alkulana ministry, directing and managing the camp has become a full time ministry and her full time love.

Having been appointed by the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, her official title is “Community Missionary.” She dispels any solemn notion one might have of a missionary, as she is rarely seen wearing anything but jeans and a T-shirt and is often seen instigating some kind of harmless mischief. She’s serious, however, about her mission: that kids come to know that they are loved—by the camp staff and by God.

*(For information about the Baptist Center work of the Richmond Baptist Association, go to www.RBAonline.org)