Circle Pines Center

Circle Pines Center is a member-based, Coop non-profit, 501(c)3 education and recreation center. We run a children's summer camp and year round retreat center with programs for families, children and adults. We also organize and host an annual music festival, the Buttermilk Jamboree, the second full weekend in June. The organization owns 294 acres of land with rolling hills, hardwood and pine forests, meadows and frontage on Stewart Lake. We have miles of trails for hiking and cross-country skiing, diverse wildlife and an organic garden and orchard.

The mission of Circle Pines is to teach peace, social justice, environmental stewardship and cooperation. The Center aims to demonstrate cooperative alternatives for economic and social issues and to teach cooperation as a way of life.

Circle Pines Center is located in Southwest Michigan, about halfway between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo, in beautiful Barry County.

Tom VanHammen is the Center Director. Tom's main focus is finances, but he oversees the whole operation. Tom first came to Circle Pines in 1985, for the Great Lakes Bioregional Congress. He returned the following spring as Physical Plant Manager. He worked at Circle Pines for 7 years as part of a Management Team. Tom was also Summer Camp Co-Director for five summers. After leaving the CPC staff, he was elected to the CPC Board, where he served for 11 years. He returned on staff in 2005, as Facilities Manager and became Co-Director with his wife Kat in 2007. Kat stepped down after 3 years, to focus on her art. Tom has a BA from Michigan State in Interdisciplinary Humanities. Prior to coming to CPC, Tom did solar heating work in Lansing, MI (Solar & Insulation Co-op). In between stints at CPC, Tom worked in the Traverse City area for two years and ran a residential remodeling business (Abode Building & Remodeling) in Grand Rapids for 10 years. He also volunteered at the Grand Rapids Community Media Center, as a "DJ" on community radio station WYCE for 10 years. Tom enjoys pruning fruit trees, making maple syrup, cross country skiing, ice skating, roller blading, kayaking, playing Ultimate Frisbee and cooperating.

Ron Knutson, Facilities & Technology Manager, continues on the year-round staff to assist with maintenance, computers and "other duties as assigned." Ron has 20 years of experience in a variety of camp jobs and has lived in the Barry County area for many years. He also has a long history with co-ops, having helped start several food co-ops and buying clubs. He is excited to be working with Tom and others on the staff team to provide hospitality to all CPC guests. There is always a substantial list of facility needs and general repairs he will be helping to tackle, to help improve the camp's appearance and usability.

Shea Fuller, Year-round Summer Camp Director, stumbled upon Circle Pines through a series of fortunate and unlikely events in 2010 and hasn’t been able to stay away since. Working as a counselor for her first three seasons resulted in an unshakable addiction to Michigan summers and the culture and ethic of co-op life. A native to Florida with a degree in English and Environmental Studies from Rollins College, she has traveled abroad in Europe, Africa, and The UK since graduating, striving to apply the principles of collective living and social justice engendered by camp to communities of all shapes and sizes. She loves working with the extraordinary members of the CPC community and spending as much time as possible wrist deep in the CPC garden. Shea will be making CPC her year-round home and helping to connect CPC summer camp and CPC year-round activities.

Patrick Irving, Grounds Coordinator, first came to CPC for the action camp in 2014 and was hired on to work in the camp kitchen that summer. A strong advocate of anti-oppression, social justice, and the non-aggression principle, he has stayed on to work at CPC year-round, doing mostly maintenance tasks and being an ambassador for CPC. Patrick says "I immediately fell in love with Circle Pines and want to do everything I can to help it thrive".