Camp Chickagami

 A busy camp season is right around the corner.  Please consider joining us for work weekend from May 23rd through May 26th.  Come for a day, two days or the whole weekend! We’ll provide food & lodging in exchange for your time & labor. Plenty of time reserved for fellowship and fun at Camp Chick too. Adults and youth are welcome! In fact, Work Weekend might be a terrific service project for young people.

For more information, please see this flyer:  Work Weekend 2008

Thank you to Matt Uren for scanning a couple hundred slides (remember slides??!!) and sending us a CD of some great memories.  Go to the photo gallery.  Do you recognize someone we haven’t identified? … send us a note.

Check out Matt’s photos here

We have tentatively agreed to hire persons to fill two of our key positions.  Barb is returning to cook for us, and Jeanine is returning to be our health officer.  We still may need additional help in these areas.  So even though we have two people in place, please continue to submit applications!  We really need help with program personnel!!!!

I have received three counselor applications! Keep them coming!

It is time to get your applications in!  We need to find out where counseling staff numbers will be and those persons that are needed to help in our programs and support positions.  We are looking for someone also this year that would be willing to do general cleaning during and after our camp sessions.  This could be a part time position with someone that is retired or local that needs a little extra income and who would be willing to work during the day and after camp to clean cabins, restrooms and bath facilities.  If you know of someone that might be willing to do this let me know soon.   I can be reached at tsmith@campchickagami.org or alemridge@4wbi.com

Thanks for your help.

Tom Smith, Camp Director

The Camp Chickagami Board met this afternoon and reviewed a proposal to build an Archery Range put forth by Camp Director, Tom Smith.  After some consideration, the board enthusiastically approved the project.  The new archery range may be one of the projects for the upcoming Work Weekend.  Camp Chickagami hasn’t had archery as part of it’s program since the last year the boys camp operated back in 1980.

Kris Forsyth/ Secretary to the Camp Chick Board

Click here for your 2008 Youth Camp Registration Form.

The 2008 Youth Camp Brochure is here!

You’ll need Adobe Reader to view and print the form.

Staff Application Form                                                                                                              Camp Chickagami is accepting applications for all positions at this time.  Please Print out the Staff Application Form, fill it out, and send it to:  Mr. Thomas Smith, 5990 Hegel Road, Goodrich, MI 48438.  If you want to save the document and work on it as a word document and send it in email form, that is also acceptable.  the email is: tsmith@campchickagami.org.

Thank you for considering Camp Chickagami for summer camp employment.

Thomas Smith, Director

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

We love coming to Camp Chick!