In 1979 YFC Winnipeg signed a lease with the Manitoba government for a 35 acre site on Pinawa Bay, Lac du Bonnet. After an architect and YFC staff came up with a design, things were ready to roll. The board of directors established a very wise policy at the time. They said we will only go ahead as God provides the money, the material, and the people. Every nickel spent had to be raised ahead of time so that there would never be any debt hanging over our heads. We trusted God for the volunteer workers, the donated materials, the grants and the many sacrificial cash gifts. Day by day God provided and the lodge took shape. The camp was eventually named Cedarwood because the lodge was finished completely in cedar.
Cedarwood ran its first camp in the summer of 1984.

In 2020-21 we saw our year round and summer programming come to a halt as covid-19 spread throughout the world. We used this time to finish many projects. The inside of the lodge was renewed with knotty pine and a fresh coat of paint on many of its walls. Our roof was able to be reshingled in the winter months, a task which would have been vastly more difficult if our lodge had been occupied by rental groups. Our water system was given an upgrade which included digging a well and moving our filtration system into a new building. We may not have been able to run at full scale but we saw God provide for us and send some regular rentals and other income our way.

Throughout the years God has been faithful to Cedarwood. We have been blessed with a variety of Directors, Summer Directors and Program Directors throughout our years. Cedarwood has a long legacy of staff and volunteers who have given their time and talents towards the task of sharing the gospel. We have watched God bless the summer and year round programming as camp has been filled with teenagers and a variety of rental groups. Cedarwood has been a miracle in so many ways. The facilities continue to grow as God provides the resources and workers for each new project. Every nickel and every 2x4 has been prayed in as the staff expressed to God the needs they saw and pursued the goals they believed would honour Him. To this day we are able to see the result of the vision of the men who acquired the property in 1979. God has answered our prayers, providing all that we need and bringing us to this point. We are confident that God is at work at Cedarwood no matter what kind of season we go through.

The Fire
On Thursday, June 23, 1994, tragedy struck Cedarwood. In the middle of a camp expansion project aimed at significantly increasing our camper capacity, a construction accident started a fire which burned our lodge to the ground. No one was injured in the fire, but the entire building and contents were lost. God provided in astounding ways, and with the exception of the first week, a full summer of camping happened out of a temporary facility. Rebuilding began in full force in the fall with the summer of 1995 seeing the first phase of the new facility in use and in 1996 Phase 2. A third stage, including new recreation facilities and housing for year-round staff, was completed in 2002.