HARTFIELD, Va.—Piankatank Camp and Conference Center will benefit from the generosity of a Petersburg, Va., church which disbanded last year and gave its property to the Virginia Baptist Mission Board, Piankatank’s owner.
Funds from the sale of the 60-year-old Walnut Hill Baptist Church in Petersburg, which disbanded after several years of declining attendance, will reduce debt incurred by Piankatank in major upgrades to its facilities in the past few years.
The church will be honored by naming the road which leads to Piankatank’s lodges “Walnut Hill Court.”
An auction on Walnut Hills’s property brought in about $550,000, said Eddie Stratton, treasurer for the Mission Board. After paying for necessary repairs on the church, Piankatank will receive at least $425,000, said Stratton.
Piankatank was chosen as the recipient of the funds because it’s the closest Baptist entity to the Petersburg church, Stratton said.
In related action, the Mission Board’s executive committee on March 13 authorized Piankatank to negotiate a bank loan of up to $175,000 to fund several projects, including:
• Construct the shell of a home for the resident camp director, who is required to live on the premises. Volunteer labor will complete the house.
• Replace the air conditioning system in the dining hall.
• Expanded women’s restrooms in several facilities. Piankatank was opened as a camp for boys, and upgrades have been necessary to make the camp co-ed.
Robert Dilday ([email protected]) is managing editor of the Religious Herald.