I've been going to camp don lee for 5 years now and it's my favorite place to be! Love all the staff and everyone is super nice and fun! Camp brings me closer to God every summer. can't imagine not going to camp don lee
Year after year, I am never disappointed. Don Lee is an annual field trip for our fourth grade students. They enjoy fishing, archery and studying/collecting fossils. A highlight of the day is the family-style lunch! The food is delicious! The facilities and staff are phenomenal.
The kitchen staff this morning 5-19-24 is very rude and very disrespectful with me and my wife for no reason. I have never been treated this bad in my life. Never coming back.
After attending Camp Don Lee last summer, my son was very excited to go back for the summer of 2024. As Christmas/birthday gift we registered him for two separate two week sessions. Unfortunately, on March 30, my son was in a horrific accident. He was hit by a car while riding his bike in our hometown of Emerald Isle, North Carolina. He was subsequently airlifted to ECU, where he underwent emergency surgery, was in the hospital for four days, and is now in a cast up to his hip and not weight-bearing on the leg for at least two months.
Obviously, due to these unexpected injuries, we must cancel our summer camp plans, as he will be in rehab to gain use of his right leg again. Therefore, I reached out to Camp Don Lee so that I could cancel our camp plans, and open up his spot to a child that may be on the waitlist. When I inquired about receiving a refund for my deposit was told that I needed to seek out and purchase third-party camp insurance prior to trying to cancel. However, had I called on 1 April, they would have ‘possibly’ been able to help. (We were in the hospital, and summer camp was the LAST thing on my mind.)
The lack of compassion and empathy shown was absolutely disgraceful. Camp Don Lee touts itself as a small Christian camp, and even in the mission statement they double down on Christian values. My experience has been that they are only concerned with money, not the actual human experience. I told the woman to keep the deposit as a donation to camp as obviously they needed it more than we did.
If you were looking for a place that treats your family with Christian values, empathy, and compassion I would choose to go elsewhere. Camp Kirkwood in Burgaw is a great alternate choice
Wonderful camp with great amenities! Miss Mo and kitchen staff cooked up yummy food for each meal…like no other “camp” food I’ve ever had. I ate better at Don Lee than I ever would at home ? 10/10 recommend!
I had so much fun here, I went here for a school trip and this was probably the best trip I’ve been on in years since Covid started, I already wish I was back since the trip was so short so hopefully I can go again!!
Incredibly disappointed with Don Lee Camp (and especially the coordinator Katie Lilly) and their unresponsiveness and uncaring attitude. The camp has obviously gone downhill and is no longer reliable.
Our group has gone here in the past, but this time our group leader had to spend MONTHS with Don Lee Camp trying to get a single homeschool day or private event set up for this year. Email communications literally took WEEKS to get responses and they only answered the phone ONCE in dozens of attempts over the past several months' time. They finally got back to her on January 13th saying, "This email confirms that we have March 24th set aside" for our group, so we all worked our schedules around it, including vacation plans and time off.
Then yesterday Don Lee Camp emailed our group leader to say everything the camp previously promised our group was now "blocked off" because they are now having a "weekend staff training for our high school summer staff" and "all other dates for this spring are booked." So apparently they are canceling our confirmed Friday camp date to train people who are in school that day (Beaufort County schools do NOT have a spring break or scheduled day off then). And literally NO apology was offered for their late responses or cancellation. Then they had the audacity to say, "We will hopefully be hosting a homeschool day in the fall and look forward to seeing your group then." Why do they think we would trust Don Lee after this?!?
The saddest part is that the group has had good experiences in the past (obviously things have severely declined since) and now all of our kids are so sad to have planned on this and then been dropped unceremoniously, not to mention the parents that are now left in limbo.
Very unprofessional all around.
Strongly discourage you from getting your hopes up! We corresponded through email for months setting up a very large school group of 175 families, they confirmed our date and itinerary. Then they emailed a month later saying they could no longer offer sailing, then 2 weeks later emailed saying they could not have us out bc they were blocking this date off for training. Very unprofessional! The camp is nice but they haven’t done much in yrs outside of summer camp. My families had taken off work and used vacation time etc.
The greatest summer camp in the country. A feeling of peace and freedom falls upon you the moment you arrive. The wind off the river, the splash of the waves, the best food you'll ever have. The best place to get away from the fast-paced world.
We went yesterday with our daughters middle school trip. It was outstanding!!!! The view of the compound was peaceful and instantly had me hooked. The camp was really clean and the staff was phenomenal. They were pleasant and had a really smooth operation in place. Our counselor/guide Brittany, was outstanding as well. She was very patient with the kids and did a great job of keeping the kids focused and the overall flow of the day. I must also say, the lunch was waaaay beyond expectation. I’m not sure who prepared that meal but it was probably one of the best “away from home” meals I’ve ever had. We were the last to go through the lunch line and the food was still piping hot and fresh. The chicken was juicy and very flavorful. The cornbread, macaroni and cheese and beans were mouth watering. I also loved the touch of the delicious brownie and sweet tea?. To keep my review “short”, this place is awesome and I highly recommend and would return!
A beautiful place to visit, relax and play. This time we came for a family stay, but I've also come for conferences. Each time we have come, it has been an excellent experience with great amenities and kind hospitality from the staff.
my second visit to camp don lee. Breathtaking vistas. Camp don lee is a peaceful, serene place. Fantastic staff, is so good with kids. Cabins are cozy and basic. The food is okay. The cellphone reception is good. There are several fun activities for the kids. I highly recommend it.
All of the staff where awesome! Activities were awesome, food was great but the lady I ran into asking for a simple refill on sweet tea, along with complementing on how the food was a completely different story. My family has visited the camp many years with our church. "God" forbid you come back to replenish. This is a Christian camp and I expect all those who work there are as well. It is made clear to you that if you want more, you simply go back and ask for more. Every time we have been there there is always one individual if not two or three that roll their eyes at you if you come back for seconds. My kids are getting bigger now and sit at an all kids table, so when they need something they may not ask mom and dad to go get it for them. They will head to the kitchen. Here is where the problem lies, if they look and treat me like they have in the past, then my kid comes to me with the same issue, we are going to have a major problem. With all of the hate towards Christian's these days, I am definitely hesitate to send my kid to a week's camp there. I maybe expecting g too much but I feel like the kitchen staff should be just as happy to serve food as the rest.
I have brought a group of campers here for the last three years, and every time I am blown away by the professionalism of the staff, the cleanliness of the camp, and the care all of the counselors take with the students. The sailing staff really knows what they are doing, and they make sure the students are not only safe but have a great time. The food was great! The leaders accommodated the tricky food allergies in our group, and were wonderful to work with at every turn. I highly recommend Camp Don Lee!
I was here for the Emerson Waldorf 10th grade class trip, we spent a week here, had a absolutely great experience, the best class trip that we have ever had. We went sailing, kayaking, swimming and camping with the instructors, Cooper, Victoria, Nate, and Jordan. I had a lot of fun and learned a lot, it was totally worth it. I strongly recommend this place for a group trip. It’s also a place where you can learn how to sail if you are interested!
We had a wonderful experience at Camp Don Lee, the staff were super helpful and always energetic! All of them had a vast amount of knowledge to share with the kids and chaperones!! Our favorites were Sam, she was so fun and had all of our kids attention from the first time we met her. Her recall on remembering their names was absolutely amazing!! Taylor and Tanner were also ours favorites! Taylor took us sailing and told us some really great riddles ? and his brother Tanner was awesome and helped us fish!! They were both so fun and our kids loved them!! This was such a fun experience and I look forward to coming back with my son on 3 years!!!!!
They have delicious food good people except Ally she is no fun she is mean i heard that from a lot of people and Tyler and Tanner need to let us swim too but everything else was prefect and God REALLY blessed place
Truly, a place that God has blessed.
A part of our family for more than 40 years - multi-generations of campers and a younger member of the family serving on staff for many years. The facility, program and most importantly, the staff, help create memories, relationships and an emphasis on faith that lasts well beyond the end of a young camper's time at camp.
Instructors and staff are amazing. Each class was taught well and thoroughly. The kids enjoyed canoeing, archery, fishing etc etc.
I wish there was a half-bathroom in every cabin! The bathrooms are a few blocks away. One has to step out with a flashlight at 3 am to pee.
The salad bar and desserts are great. The vegetarian items they serve need a serious boost and perhaps input from a vegetarian chef.
This place was absolutely amazing. It has amazing food, and great opportunities to make new friends. I've met some great friends there, and I was only there for a day!
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