100% of your gift of $50 towards the Gates Property Pay Off will be matched through a generous donation from the Staples Foundation.

100% of your gift of $500 towards the Gates Property Pay Off will be matched through a generous donation from the Staples Foundation.

100% of your $1,000 donation towards the Gates Property Pay Off will be matched by a generous donation from the Staples Foundation.

100% of your gift of $5,000 towards the Gates Property Pay Off will be matched through a generous donation from the Staples Foundation.

Fundraisers

100% of donations to our Gates Property Pay Off will be matched by a generous donation from the Staples Foundation.

Upward Bound Camp

Five years ago Upward Bound Camp purchased the Gates Elementary School from the Santiam Canyon School District, for $500,000.  At that time Upward Bound, the non-profit, was operating on leased property on the North Fork of the Santiam.  The North Fork property is owned by founders of the camp and the Board of Directors recognized that eventually the camp would need to find it's own home.  The Board chose the Gates Elementary School and began renovating and upgrading the facility with an eye toward eventually providing year around camps.  Upward Bound welcomed campers to the new facility beginning in 2018 and by 2019 the Gates Campus became the full time home of Upward Bound Camp.  

The Gates property has been an excellent investment for Upward Bound Camp. The campus is almost entirely flat, giving campers in wheel chairs freedom to access the entire facility, there is plenty of room to provide a variety of indoor and outdoor activities and it is close to the highway and accessible even during the winter months.  

We are excited about this opportunity to pay off the mortgage of the Gates Elementary School.  Owning the camp property puts us in an excellent position to benefit from a variety of funding opportunities, including federal and local grants.  These dollars will be used for remodeling and upgrading our historic buildings, expanding our activity options for campers and increasing community access to the facility when not in use for camp sessions.  

We are grateful to the Staples Foundation and a handful of anonymous donors who have come together to provide this matching opportunity.  Please consider supporting this campaign, and in doing so, supporting this commitment to all of our campers with diverse-abilities as well as the long term investment in the Gates community.  