April 22 is Earth Day and we want to celebrate! This year we as a staff are celebrating from both our camps. Part of the challenge of running two sites with one staff, is the driving. We drive a lot as an organization. El Camino Pines and Luther Glen Farm sit 160 miles apart. This 3 to 5 hour drive through LA traffic is a mainstay for our staff.
The other big drive we frequently make is to and from churches and schools for animal visits. At these visits we bring Luther Glen Farm to you, and set up a farm stand and petting zoo. These trips take us in a gas guzzling SUV towing a horse trailer as far as San Diego or San Fernando. Due to the price of gas and the inefficiency of our tow car, we have recently added a gas fee to help with the costs of transportation.
The rough math is this…we expect to save around $3500 dollars annually by replacing one of our gas cars with an EV.
And don’t forget that it’s Earth Day…EVs are anywhere from 25%-60% percent less polluting than gas powered cars over their lifetimes. The large spread in those numbers account for the various ways EVs are charged. At Luther Glen Farm our 128 solar panels are a source of renewing energy that powers the entire site…and would power our EVs. This would mean clean and renewable driving (we’d be closer to the 60%)!
Thanks to donors like you, we have already started this important work. The retreat center at Luther Glen now features 2 EV charging stations. With your help we will be installing a station at El Camino Pines in the near future.
I mentioned animal visits... If we replace the old SUV that tows our horse trailer with an Electric truck, we could make those visits greener, and lower the cost of those visits for all churches.
But this is just the start….Our five year goal is this: replace our 5 gas powered cars with EVs (and hybrids?) A fleet of electric cars will not only reduce our carbon emissions and save money, we will also be better role models to our campers.
With your support, we can make this vision a reality!. Will you give today to help us pave the way for a greener tomorrow? Your generous contribution will empower us to continue our efforts in caring for God’s creation and ensure the well-being of our camps for generations to come.
Thank you for your support and commitment to a sustainable future at Luther Glen Farm and El Camino Pines. Happy Earth Day!