1/14/2016
Bishop Ely has appointed Ellen McCulloch-Lovell Rock Point Legacy Minister to design and implement the fundraising campaign to support the vision of Rock Point as an educational, recreational and spiritual resource for the Episcopal Church in Vermont and the broader community.
McCulloch-Lovell is the former President of Marlboro College, where she led efforts to more than double the size of Marlboro’s endowment, increase its annual fund, and attract grants from foundations. She is familiar with the needs of buildings and grounds as well as educational and outreach programs. Before her eleven years of service at the College, she served as the founding director of the Veterans’ History Project at the Library of Congress, and as deputy assistant to the president and advisor to the First Lady in the Clinton administration. She previously spent 10 years as Senator Leahy’s Chief of Staff in Washington, D.C., working with a wide range of state and national issues. She started her career in Vermont with the Vermont Arts Council, leading it as executive director for eight years. She and her husband Chris recently moved back to Montpelier and to their earlier church home, Christ Church.
Bishop Ely said, “We are pleased that Ellen will take on this ministry to help us support Rock Point, some of the last open land on Lake Champlain, using her extensive fundraising and board experience, and her ability to engage others in a vision.” McCulloch-Lovell said “The vision for Rock Point as a sacred place by the Lake for people, wildlife, and water quality, as well as a center of diocesan life and ministry, is one I greatly value. I look forward to showing others how they can participate in sustaining this beautiful place and enhancing the activities that happen here.”
The campaign for Rock Point will include funding to improve the Conference and Camp facilities, enhance the trail system and public access to the land, provide leadership for the plan to manage the resources, and to develop partnerships that strengthen the programs and community ties. Rock Point currently is the location of the Bishop Booth Conference Center and Rock Point Summer Camps, the Rock Point School, the Bishop’s historic home, a Solar Orchard, Community Gardens, the Outdoor Chapel, and other educational and recreational programs. The Burlington bike-path transits the 130-acre property and numerous scholars and students come to study its unique geological features. An estimated 10,000 people a year use the site in various ways, with a special emphasis on youth through the school, camps, gardens, and outdoor education.
Bishop Ely stated that the campaign has been in development for several years. “The time has come for us to be better stewards of this remarkable site. That means raising the resources necessary to sustain its responsible use and enhance its programs. Caring for Rock Point is part of our duty to care for creation.”