The Acorn Scheme

What is an Acorn?

An Acorn is a gift of £10 per month committed by an individual, group or church to The Oakes.

Why do we need Acorns?

We aim to keep camp fees to a minimum to enable maximum participation. Therefore, camp fees cover only cost of running the camps themselves, not the additional expenditures which are explained below.

One-off gifts are always a real encouragement! Acorns, however, ensure a consistent monthly income allowing us to budget sensibly.

What are Acorns spent on?

• Facilities

  Each year we aim to improve the facilities in a variety of ways. This could involve restoration work on the Georgian house and grounds, developing new activities (for example the mini-golf course or outdoor chess board), improving storage, upgrading equipment and technology, or anything else we can think of to help the camps run more effectively.

• Sponsoring Assisted Holiday Places

  This year the Trust hopes to offer 160 free / subsidised camp places (10% of the expected number of campers). Camps costs vary by camp-length - see the camp list for current prices.

• Supporting Team Members

  All team members work as volunteers but The Oakes covers the cost of their board and lodging, a team car, team retreats and training expenses. This amounts to an estimated £2,500 per person per year.

  Team who decide to stay on beyond their initial year and take on a specific role (e.g. catering, maintenance, etc) often receive modest financial assistance towards their support needs.

The Challenge

Although the house, grounds and team already have the capacity to offer great holidays, we know that there is a huge amount of potential still to be developed.

The Oakes is committed to clearly explain Christ with non-Christian children and young people in a way that they will find relevant and interesting.

There are many very needy charities but only Christian believers are going to consider supporting the work here at The Oakes.

The following verse was very significant for us in our original motivation for The Oakes:

How can they believe if they have not heard the message? And how can they hear the message if it is not proclaimed? (Romans 10:14)

Please help us to continue to proclaim Christ and see children and young people believe in the truth of the Gospel. Your contribution really can make a difference. To commit to one or more acorns, please phone +44 (0)114 2359995.

If you have already joined the scheme, thank you, we really appreciated your support. Please encourage others to do the same. The more Acorns we receive, the quicker we can upgrade existing facilities and move forward with new plans.