St. Paul’s of Sheboygan Falls Work Week

 Last week, Camp Daniel was very blessed to have a great work week with a great group of people.  St Paul’s Lutheran, in Sheboygan Falls, is the home church of the Weidner family.  It was through their connection that we connected with the pastor in charge of the missions trip for this year.  There were 17 people here from the Sunday afternoon of Father’s Day until Friday afternoon.  Kids and adults alike fused to make one team.   They were put to work on multiple jobs on the Camp Daniel campus.  The most important job needing done was putting on the metal roofing on the new building. Our guys worked alongside the volunteers to get a large job done.  In the photo above, you see them putting a panel on the roof.  It was a 6 man job just to do that as the long roofing panels were over 20’ long.

 On Thursday, we rented a high lift to finish the lower barn panels.  They were too steep to allow someone to be on the roof.  They finished just before dinner on Thursday.  One of the other large jobs was pulling nails from all the beams and wood that we salvaged from the two barn “unraisings”.  Now all that wood is ready to be used in the new barn.  It was a huge job that would have taken our guys months to accomplish.  We tried to express our gratitude, but I don’t think that words could adequately express it.

 The Weidner kids worked too.  They helped Karol with crafts, and they also worked outside on some small landscaping jobs.  Goes to show that you’re never too young to serve others!  What a great example they are to all of us.

 Jen and Amanda spent the week sewing curtains.  They had been started during a prior work day, and between the two of them, they were able to get all the curtains done in the Trapline Lodge.

 Karol and Molly helped with a group that alternated between exterior staining, and craft jobs in the Factory.  They finished the stain on the dorms and railings.  Then they stained the exterior stairs and the bleacher area around the fire pit.  Finally, they stained the railings and cedar shakes on the factory.  In all, they used 10 gallons of stain!!

 When it was raining, or the stain fumes were too much to bear, that group worked with Karol in the Factory.  There were many small jobs that needed to be completed for the summer craft projects.  Well, what is a small job isn’t so small when you have to do it 200 times! They also helped Karol with all the clothing in the photo below.  These are all items that we purchased on clearance at retailers; we used some awesome modern technology to put Camp Daniel logos on each item.  It’s a time consuming project, but we produced a lot of great items for Papa to sell in the shop!

 After the roofers completed their task, they set to working on electric in the barn.  They got a good start on pulling wires for outlets and light fixtures.  In the photo below, Steve and Nick are installing a catwalk that will be used for sound and video wiring.

 We hope that they come back again next year!!!

Centerpieces, Awards and Dancing!

 Karol has been working on centerpieces for our new theme meal - Pep Rally.  This theme will kick off camp each week with a red versus blue themed meal.  A new theme means all new decorations for the dining hall.  When deciding on new decorations, we have been looking to the future needs of when we are on our own grounds.  Our new dining room will have round tables, which will be very conducive to centerpieces, so that’s been the focus.    So, on the cheap and from scratch.....I present Pep Rally centerpieces!

 The Italian theme is being brought back by popular demand.  So some pasta inspired centerpieces will now grace our tables.

 We are so proud to announce that Ruth Hucek was awarded a Young Philantropist award for 2014, by the Marinette and Menominee Area Community Foundation.  Camp Daniel nominated Ruth, who we recognize as a young volunteer who transforms her community for the better.  Her hours of volunteering at Camp Daniel made her a great recipient for this award.    At the same award ceremony, Camp Daniel received a grant for $1,035 for dorm bunk bed mattresses.

 The annual Dance for Disability, commonly known as D4D was held Saturday, June 7th, at the Bay Beach Pavilion.  We were pleased that we had approximately 250 people in attendance.  Invites and announcements went out to area group homes, and workshops for people with disabilities.  People came from all over the area for a free meal and lots of great dancing.  The dance is for people with disabilities, their families, caregivers and friends.  It’s a great way for everyone to get together and have some fun.

Salvage of Barn #2

 After tearing down the smaller barn in Antigo, Tony continued to check Craigslist for another.  He found this barn that was free, we just needed to take it all away.  It was located in Pembine, which is a reasonable distance to haul.  We were excited because the entire structure was covered in mildly rusted corrugated galvanized steel panels, which would be perfect for the ceiling of our barn.  When Tony contacted the gentleman, we were told that someone else had already inquired, but he took our number in case that opportunity fell through.  About 4 days later we received the call and the barn was ours if we were willing to 1) not sue him for an injury and 2) take it ALL away.   After evaluating the structure in person, we decided that there was lots of good material there, and not anything that we wouldn’t use.  We don’t want to dismantle and haul garbage!  So the guys spent the better part of a week dismantling the 60’ x 60’ barn.

 I don’t have any pics, but the first day they were in the snow/rain, but after that the weather was better.  They brought the skidsteer, which they used to make things easier and faster.  But everything was still systematically dismantled.  They tried not to break any boards, or bend any of the metal panels.

 The photos basically speak for themselves!!

 Everything was bundled and hauled away, three trailers full at a time.  Took 5 trips to get it all.

 Tony used the skidsteer to break up the concrete that was on the floor, dig a hole, bury the concrete, and cover and smooth topsoil.  If not for the lack of grass, you would never even know we were there!  Aside from the metal, we salvaged miles of aged dimensional lumber.  There were even a bunch of Straight 16’ 2x6’s!  Now the large and daunting task of pulling nails out of all that lumber!  Between the two barns, we now have enough aged material to do some pretty cool detail work inside the new barn at Camp Daniel!