Camp Chickagami

It’s amazing how much can be accomplished in one weekend!  We had some 65+ volunteers participate, all in all, in this year’s Work Week.

A bunch of folks from Northern Convocation came out pre-work weekend to clean the kitchen and power wash the bathhouses so that those spaces were ready for the arrival of the bulk of the volunteers.  Many of the remaining workers came early on Thursday eve to settle in including the folks who were involved with the camp back in the boys camp era.  We were just thrilled to have former camp staffers Lee & Bette Alden, Mike and Deborah English, Matt and Grant Uren, Steve Maunder, plus Tom and Patrick Mooney in our midst.  They came from the Detroit area and all the way from Arizona, Colorado, California and Minnesota.  We were also so glad to have workers from both Diocese of Eastern Michigan (all four convocations) and Diocese of Michigan.

Some accomplishments of the work week include remodeling of the bathroom in Huron, clearing a road to the beach (so to provide access to folks with limited mobility), new laminate floor in Eve, repair of the altar in St. Andrew’s Chapel, removal of all the broken concrete around the boat docks, (back breaking work!), new benches, newly repaired firewood sheds,  installation of both the boat and swim docks, exterior painting of Grand Lake, new lighting in Grand Lake, interior painting of Martha and Esau, a new handrail for Johnson and new curtains for some cabins.  Of course, there was also considerable work accomplished in deep cleaning cabins and program spaces and much more.  We also assembled new the Camp Chick newsletter (watch for it coming to you!). All thru the weekend, workers were provided delicious, hot meals by our cheerful, hardworking cooks!

We still have one project that we are working on accomplishing over the course of the summer.  We intend to dismantle the old wood and scrap pile and cabin full of scrap wood that sits near the craft cabin and labyrinth.   Those items worth saving will be relocated.  The rest will be carted away for good.  Our goal is to make that area of the camp look more aesthetically pleasing and more natural.

Camp Chick’s new Core staff also started work during the weekend.  They worked on projects too (including the very chilly job of installing the docks) but also provided helpful program support in leading Campfires, Compline and putting together a dramatic presentation for Eucharist.  They also had some time to meet with Youth Camp Director, Tom Smith about their roles and beginning preparation for this summer’s Diocesan Youth Camps.

All in all it was a terrific weekend.  So much was accomplished work-wise but even more important was a spirit of fellowship and “pride of ownership” that the group seemed to have for the camp.  It was so nice to see the camp so lovingly cared for by all.  Thanks be to God for all that was accomplished.  Thanks be to God for all the ways that our experience at Work Weekend nourished our hearts and spirits too.

God’s Peace!

For more work weekend pictures: CLICK HERE!

If you have contacted me about summer employment, please return your applications as soon as possible.  If you would like to apply for a summer counseling postion, please contact me at tomandmarie55@yahoo.com and give me your address  or email so that I may send an application to you.  We are trying to set dates for training prior to camp sessions starting, that means in May and early June.  Thank you for your attention in this matter.   We are also looking for another lifeguard or two!

Thanks

Tom

Somewhat recently we started a group on facebook for Camp Chick and about forty friends of Camp Chick have already found their way there.  Some of the “friends” who “joined” the group have recently been involved in Camp Chick in one way or another.  Others were involved during the boys camp days and have just stumbled across the group.  Some of the wall posts have been fun to read as some folks didn’t know Camp Chick was still operating.  Anyway, if you’re on facebook come check us out.  We’ll be using that medium more and more to supplement other promotional and communications efforts for our Camp Chick community.  The name of the group is I Heart Camp Chickagami.

The Camp Chickagami Board of Directors submitted a grant request for Breaking New Ground funds from the Diocese of Eastern Michigan.  Just recently we were notified that we will be recipients of a $7500 grant.  How will we use these funds?  We will be ‘breaking new ground’ by hiring 4-5 all summer long, (10 week), camp staffers.  The idea is to involve the camp staffers, (we’ll call them “core staff”), in furthering the development of our diocesan youth camps.  Core Staffers will work at Camp Chick during our own Diocesan Family Camp and two weeks of Youth Camps.  Core staffers may also participate in an exchange program with staff from other Province 5, (midwestern), Episcopal Camps and/or serve as support staff in local, (with the Diocese of Eastern Michigan), congregational programs such as Day Camps and Vacation Bible Schools.

Qualifications Needed:

At least 18 years old and a high school graduate

Experience working with children & youth

*Because Core Staffers will be working on further developing the Christian Formation element of our diocesan camp program, applicants from an Episcopal faith tradition are preferred.  Because we hope that Core Staffers will serve in an ambassador like role for the camp, we also prefer applicants from Diocese of Eastern Michigan congregations.  Applicants must be REGULAR participants in the life and worship of their congregation.

Further information and staff application materials will be available soon thru Camp Director, Tom Smith.  Please contact Tom at (810)348-2107 or tomandmarie55@yahoo.com.

The Camp Chickagami Board of Directors is excited to announce that we’ll be offering a diocesan family camp this coming summer.  Family campers will be provided breakfast and dinner daily and a wide variety of optional activities to participate in throughout the day.  Included in the program will be a Godly Play or Beulah Land story and activity for each morning, (also optional), and Compline each evening as well.  Family Camp will be staffed by a Program Director, our Diocesan Youth Camp Director and a handful of his core camp staffers.  Details should be available in the coming newsletter and summer camp brochure.  Save the dates…  June 28th - July 5th!

by John Pettipher

Reprinted from Anglican Connections, July 2008. Vol 19. - No 7.  For full issue, including great pictures, CLICK HERE

PRESQUE ISLE –Camp Chickagami 2008 Work Weekend, held over Memorial Day weekend, was a huge success by almost any measure - including perfect weather. Sixtytwo (62!) Episcopalians, plus an assortment of friends, worked to put our Diocesan camp in tip top shape and get everything ready for another successful camping season.
Workers came from all four of our Diocese’s Convocations and ranged in age from 6 to 86. Of special note were the former “boys” who traveled from California, Colorado, and Minnesota to make sure the camp they grew to love in their youth was given the care it deserves. On hand as well was Lee Alden , camp director from the 60’s and 70’s, and Betty Alden, who mothered more than a few of the boys who attended back then.
This was more than a chance to clean up and fix up a camp that next year will be 80 years old; it was an opportunity to reconnect with the past and build a community, our Camp Chickagami Family.
Camp Grounds
The grounds and the Lake Esau shoreline were very much in need of a “spring cleanup”. Every year the tall pines, oak and birch trees that surround the camp drop leaves and branches that must be collected. This year several tall birch trees had reached the end of their life cycle and were cut down by a team of volunteer lumberjacks. The labyrinth was raked and put back in order. (Do you suppose it was the bears or the chipmunks that moved the stones? Or maybe it was just the slow by relentless effects of nature: the freezing and thaw, the melting of several feet of snow.) Docks and a swim area were set up and the shore raked to prepare for a Summer of fun on the water. They say that this year there will be “tubing’. All in all there was lots of pruning, thinning, raking, and mulchspreading to make the grounds ready.
Camp Facilities
Winning the 2008 Work Weekend Farthest- Traveled-Hardest-Worked Awards were our former campers - Steve Maunder from California, Matt Uren from Colorado, and Tom Mooney from Minnesota. Between them they used 15 gallons of paint to freshen up the exterior of Fletcher Hall, the Craft Shop, and Albany. Each brought with him ten to twelve years of Camp Chickagami experience as campers, kitchen boys, and counselors.
But Camp Chickagami Work Weekend was a team effort and not just the work of three. Dozens of people worked to paint, caulk, install dry wall, install showers, and lay flooring. Others washed windows and cleaned, sometimes sorting through year of accumulated stuff. Others were helped to reorganize space for new uses. The athletic supplies have been collected and now have their own storage room. Our tennis court was resurfaced and they built a new archery range.
Thanks to encouraged and welcomed suggestions and feedback from this year’s volunteers, the Camp Chick Board has already started our 2009 Work Weekend project list and is determined to make next year’s weekend even better. Keep us in mind as you consider how to spend Memorial Day Weekend in 2009.
Camp Chickagami Family - 80 Years
Camp Chickagami’s most important asset - our Camp Chickagami Family - “displayed” what this place means to them in varying ways. Some used words. Others used the sound of silence. Everyone worked for the love of this place. Some baked endless platters of cookies to keep the other workers “nourished”. (Some things never change a camp.)

Kris Forsyth, secretary of the Camp board, put it this way:

“I loved the drawing together of folks from so many different eras in the camp’s history. It was fun to see how smoothly we blended. The energy and spirit of the weekend was my favorite thing. The source of that energy came partly from the sheer numbers of people present. The fact that there were so many willing hands definitely refilled my spirit and helped to feel that my time spent offering leadership with Camp Chick was well spent… that people care enough about it to be present and to work hard!
It wasn’t just the numbers, though, that created a sense of God with us…. It was also that sense of community that I sometimes forget about camp… where all the ‘noise’ of life tends to drop away and life becomes all about living in peace and fellowship with each other and with the whole of creation.
We all do our part in the community. The work gets done. We share stories at mealtimes and gathered around the campfire. We have time to sit awhile in the quiet of the outdoor chapel or enjoy friends and family while out in a canoe. It’s restoring time. It’s hard work, yes, but it’s also a place and time where one’s spirit is refreshed.”

It’s Your Camp
Camp Chick is your camp to be used and supported in many ways by you, your church, your convocation, and our diocese. Our camp yearns for your time, talent, and treasures. Visit and explore our web site, www. campchickagami.org. See you at Camp Chickagami.
John Pettipher is a 50-year Camp Chickagami Family member and board member; his prayer is to connect the whole Camp Chickagami Family of the past with our present and future.

At the recent Diocese of Eastern Michigan Convention, one clergy person approached the microphone to ask, “How is Camp Chick?”  She expressed concern over communications and specifically mentioned the late mailing of Camp Brochures.

In retrospect, we’re glad for the question.  We’re pleased for the concern for the youth of the diocese and interest in camp’s well being.

So…  How is Camp Chick?  Actually, in many ways, we are having a banner year!

Some celebrations…

• We put out our first newsletter, last winter, in years.
• We had strong attendance at Spring Work Week.
• Our Youth Camps were fully staffed.
• We had critical mass in attendance.
• The quality of our youth camps, in terms of program, staffing and strengthened health and safety practices, continues get even better.
• Our board met in late August for a Visioning Retreat too.

The board retreat deserves special mention.  During our retreat time, we considered, what it is that we celebrate about Camp Chick and what do we see as obstacles or challenges to overcome.  We also asked ourselves these questions…  “What do we/ what does God dream for Camp Chickagami?  How can we be a stronger resource for the Diocese of Eastern Michigan?”

Hopes and dreams came pouring out!  The possibilities are exciting!  Our efforts in this area will continue this spring, in consultation with the diocesan office, as we move from visioning to strategic planning to implementation.
Some of our more immediate plans for improvement include:

• Resurfacing the tennis court.
• Remodeling the “Head”.
• Hiring a seasonal Waterfront Director/ Assistant Caretaker
• Contracting a graphic artist to design our camp brochure.

So, how is Camp Chick?  Truthfully, we’re in a stronger place than we’ve been in years.  We’re hopeful about the future.  New energy is emerging.   Thanks for asking!

By Kris Forsyth

A great feature of Camp Chickagami is, of course, the outdoor environment. Situated between Lake Esau and Lake Huron on 87 acres, it contains a wide spectrum of ecological microcosms. The marl pond, great lake bay, fresh water lake and northern mixed forest give favorable habitat to many species of flora and fauna.

Camp Chickagami’s property was formed by the glaciers erosion leaving a deposit of sand and stone over the Alpena shelf of calcite. Our Q hut is built on an outcrop of calcite and a close look at the stones around it will reveal Petoskey stone. A rock hound will find, on the lake shores, a plethora of transports including jasper, basalt, pudding stones, feldspar and mica left by the glacier.

The land has an outdoor history. Q Hut was the machine shed of the old Fletcher lumber camp and the land was donated by the family after the last regional log off and beginning of the Great Depression. The camp served as one of the first state program boys work camps that evolved into the federal Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).

The sandy soil is a natural niche for red and white pine with a large stand of aspen. The mature pines are now 80 years old. The hardwoods tend have a life of about 40 years and we are seeing the fall of the second generation and rise of the third. One year during the spring migration, fourteen different species of warbler were seen. Many nest on the camp property. The woods serve as home to an abundance of American Redstarts, Red eyed vireos, Chestnut sided warblers. Some prefer the pines, others the hardwoods and some the cedar swamp abutting Lake Huron. Loons, red breasted mergansers and great blue herons work the waters seeking aquatic snacks.

Freddie’s Pond is a small but rare feature. It is nearly dead with a marl bottom caused by the acid from the cedar swamp reacting with the limestone base. This acidic water trickles into Lake Huron but on the way makes a sand flat serving as a haven for the endangered pitcher plants, In an effort to accentuate the natural setting and an appreciation of the same, binoculars and field guides are being purchased and will be made available in Fletcher dining hall. Please bring your own fishing pole.
By Dana Howard