An Update from the Honey Creek Sustainability Committee

The sustainability committee has worked hard for the past year meeting with each other and partners to examine various options for the future of Honey Creek. The Diocese is extremely grateful for the work Dade Brantley and Georgeanne Youngner are doing to manage Honey Creek but recognizes the workload is untenable for two people. The committee has concluded the present situation is ineffective and unsustainable and that change is inevitable. Options include selling, leasing, and repurposing the property.  The group is also considering how best to manage the campus, including staffing, energy, and maintenance expenses. Throughout this work, the committee has been mindful of Honey Creek’s mission of bringing people in community closer to God at this place. 

The committee proposes three options:

1. Continue with the current system understanding that additional financial assistance from the Diocese budget will be required to pay for increased staffing and maintenance expenses. This would be the option with the least change but would most likely only be a short-term solution.
2. Sell the entire property and place the proceeds into an endowment account. The Diocese would look at partnering with other camp and conference centers within our footprint to host our clergy, lay, and youth activities. The endowment account proceeds would assist with expenses of attendees at these events as the fees to utilize other facilities would most likely be higher.
3. Lease about a third of the property to an entity for an approved use that would blend with the habitat, use of the future public boat ramp and dock, and respect Honey Creek’s ethos.  Additionally, capital would need to be raised, either by selling additional property at the western side to developers, or “100 for 100” fundraisers, etc. to improve the overall property and assist with startup costs for additional employees. The combination of the startup capital and ongoing income may provide both financial and logistical solutions.

There are several steps to take before any of these can be officially presented. We are working with land developers, engineers, environmentalists, state and county leaders, and other partners, to help us with this evaluation. The committee’s goal is to present details for these three options to the Diocesan Council and the Standing Committee in the next few months. A final decision may be made as early as Convention 2026. Please contact committee chair Susan Shipman or Canon for Administration Andrew Austin with any questions or ideas regarding the future of Honey Creek by emailing aaustin@gaepiscopal.org.