Laurelville Retreat Center in Mount Pleasant, Pa., lost its maintenance building and all the contents in an early morning fire Feb. 12.
The Mennonite camp, which occupies more than 600 acres, reported the fire was caused by either a furnace or air compressor.
Executive director Jeanette Lahm said the building and contents were valued at around $315,000. The fire did not spread to the woods or other buildings.
Located about a quarter mile from the main grounds, the structure housed equipment, vehicles, tractors, tools, mowers, plows, golf carts and supplies. Donations are being accepted at laurelville.org.
“The insurance will have coverage for the building,” Lahm said Feb. 21 as about 70 volunteers, including people from the Laurelville board, Cove Valley Camp and four other local camps, did cleanup. “Contents will by shy of that, but we have a donation response for that. . . . We’re still down a few vehicles. They weren’t worth a lot on the books, but they were worth a lot to us.”
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