Nature Camp Foundation NewsService Weekend Updates

May 2009 Service Weekend Report – 75 Volunteers

We had a very successful Service Weekend May 15-17, 2009. We had a number of projects and were able to complete almost all that were on the list. We painted the walls and ceiling in the inner office of the Staffhouse, we reshingled another section of the LS roof, we rebuilt screens, we hung the old wooden Nature Camp sign in the Museum, and got Camp ready for another season. The finish on the new wooden sign was still wet when we left, but Charlie has since mounted it in the same location as the old wooden sign. It now reads “Providing environmental education to young people since 1942”.

We removed the old shingles, felt, and rotten wood from the north end and middle sections of the dining area of the LS and replaced them. This was the second section of the roof that we have reshingled. We will continue with the final section of the LS roof in September 2009.

Of the 75 folks who attended, 13 had never been to a previous Service Weekend, 5 folks will be on Staff this summer, and 6 folks will be campers this summer. In May of 2004, we had 78 folks at Camp for the CD release party. That is the only weekend we had more folks than this past weekend. We have now had 312 folks who have attended at least 1 Service Weekend.

Katie and Chuck were chief cooks and bottle washers with help from Maggie, Amy KG, Nell, Shirley, and others. The meals were, as usual, just fantastic. We sang in the LS after dinner on Friday and Saturday.

Eight folks, Flip, Matthew, Dave, Joe, Peter, Walter, Jonathan, and Mike, arrived at Camp on Thursday May 14th to remove the shingles from the roof of the LS. Katie and Maggie also came along to feed the crew when the project was finished. The original shingles that were installed in 1952 were still on the roof. Some 20 years or so ago, the caretaker had installed new roofing felt and shingles over the old felt and shingles. I figure these folks removed between 3 and 4 tons of old shingles and felt in about 5 hours. Charlie had arranged for a dump truck to be there to receive the old shingles. It rained like crazy shortly after dark on Thursday evening, shortly after the shingles had been removed. The plastic and tarps that had been stretched over the unshingled areas of the roof blew off with the first gusts of wind, and it was raining inside the LS. While a number of us manned mops to dry the floor so it wouldn’t swell and buckle, Flip and Matthew went up onto the roof to secure the plastic and tarps. For their bravery and dedication, these 2 fellows deserve the hero awards. It was pitch black outside and they had to wait for the lightening flashes to see where to put the nails to hold the plastic and tarps. Did I mention that it was raining like crazy and everything was very wet?

Thanks to Allison, Amy, Amy, Anna, Anna, Annie, Art, Barak, Beth, Bob, Cammie, Cary, Cat, Cathy, Chris, Chris, Christopher, Chuck, Chuck, Dave, David, David, Don, Ed, Ellis, Flip, Flynn, Gus, Henry, Jane, Joe, Jon, Jonathan, Josh, Kat, Katie, Kim, Kristin, Larry, Latham, Laurel, Lily, Louise, Lucas, Lucy, Maggie, Mary, Mary, Matthew, Michaux, Mike, Mitchell, Molly, Neil, Nell, Paul, Paul, Peggy, Peter, Rachel, Reid, Robert, Rosie, Ryan, Sarah, Scott, Shirley, Steve, Terry, Theta, Tom, Tony, Walter, and especially Charlie. There is never enough thanks for Charlie. And a special personal thanks from me to everyone who contributed to “The Star of the Service Weekend”. I was really touched.

Thank you.

Jim Brooks

NCF Service Committee Chair