08/19/2026
WHERE DOES THE MONEY GO? 💚🏕️
Sometimes I feel like I am constantly asking our community for money, whether it’s a fundraiser, a freewill-donation meal, a grant project, or simply a donation toward the park. So I thought it was important to explain a little bit about how the finances at Indian Lake Park work and why fundraising is so important.
Money collected from camping, cabin rentals, showers, merchandise, and other regular park revenue goes into the General Fund.
That General Fund helps cover the everyday expenses of keeping Indian Lake Park operating—things like:
• Regular building and property maintenance
• Utilities and heating
• Internet service
• Software and other necessary services
• Cleaning and maintenance supplies
• staff salary
• And all of those regular expenses that come with operating and maintaining a park, campground, cabins, lodge, and public facilities.
Fundraising money is different.
Money we receive through fundraisers, grants, freewill-donation meals, individual donations, Venmo donations, and other special fundraising efforts is what helps us make UPGRADES AND IMPROVEMENTS to Indian Lake Park.
And those dollars really DO make a difference.
Over the last few years, we have been able to work on things like:
Improving and upgrading our trails
New bathroom floors and fresh paint
Improvements to the Stone Lodge kitchen area—which is still a work in progress!
New and improved flowerbeds, landscaping, and plants
And many other smaller improvements throughout the park.
We still have a long wish list!
Some of our smaller, more reachable goals include:
🔥 New fire rings throughout the campground
🧺 New picnic tables
💡 More efficient lighting in the bathhouse and shower areas
🎯 Recreation areas with bocce ball, co****le, horseshoes, and other games
And then we have some BIG dreams for the future:
🚿 Major improvements to the shower house, possibly including a laundry area
🍳 A full, usable kitchen area in the lodge for our customers and guests
🏡 Eventually replacing all of our boxcar cabins with new, modern, more attractive cabins.
🚤 A new boat launch on the back side of the lake so swimmers and boaters no longer have to share the same area
In the next few months a BRAND-NEW HANDICAP-ACCESSIBLE BOAT DOCK! ♿🎣🚤
The planned dock will include a 16-foot-by-4-foot walkway with railings and a concrete surface, leading to a 12-foot-by-12-foot platform designed to provide accessible fishing opportunities. The platform will also include a gate for boat entry. I have placed a photo example of what it will look like.
This is exactly the kind of improvement that fundraising makes possible.
So when you see another fundraiser from us, another meal, another donation bucket, or another post asking for help, please know that we aren't simply asking for money we are asking you to help us build a better Indian Lake Park.
Every single dollar matters.
Whether you drop $1 in a bucket, eat breakfast with us, attend one of our events, send a donation through Venmo or the mail, or help us secure a grant, YOU are helping improve this park.
We have big dreams for Indian Lake Park because we LOVE IT and we know how much potential it has not only for our campers, but for our entire community and everyone who comes to visit.
We cannot make Indian Lake Park everything it has the potential to be without you.
From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU for every dollar, every meal purchased, every fundraiser attended, every donation, every share, and every word of encouragement.
We see it.
We appreciate it.
And we promise, we are working hard to make it count. 💚
Together, we are making Indian Lake Park better one project at a time. 🏕️🌳🎣
