HISTORY OF ROSE CITY WORK CAMP
2020
Rose City Work Camp was formed as a non-profit corporation in August 2020 in the State of Oregon. The organization was founded by Ryan T. Smith, an Oregon native, who previously served as the Executive Director of Flower City Outreach in Rochester, NY. Flower City Outreach operated Flower City Work Camp, a service organization founded in 1985, that mobilized youth groups and adult volunteers into that city to serve others and share the good new of Jesus Christ. Upon his return to Oregon in 2020, and with the full support and financial backing of the Flower City Outreach Board of Directors, Rose City Work Camp was founded in Portland.
Learn more about Flower City Outreach.
2021
The hope of launching a youth camp right away in 2021 was extinguished by COVID, and understandably so. Instead, the idea of Rose City Work Camp in general was shared throughout the year with local area church leaders, youth pastors and area non-profits to build understanding and aid in the design of how Rose City Work Camp would launch when possible. The Westside Youth Leader Network and Luis Palau Association played important roles through this process.
2022
Rose City Work Camp will launch its first service event on May 21st, 2022 with a single-day service event called RCWC Weekend Edition. The first session will be attended by Grace Chapel (Wilsonville) and Journey Church (Sherwood). Other sessions are tentatively being planned for later in the year to include other west side churches.