Our Lady of Hope Youth Group

Camp Daniel 2013 is done, but there are only 321 days (27,734,400 seconds if you prefer) until Camp Daniel 2014! In between weeks two and three, there is a week without campers or counselors. Some call it the week off, but believe me, it's not. We were getting ready for weeks three and four. Also, during this week, Our Lady of Hope Youth Group from Chicago comes up and helps us build things around the grounds. This year they came and started to build the "backstage" in the garage (It will eventually be the dinning hall).

 This is the spot where we poured concrete right before camp started (See previous blog post).

 One group put fencing around pathways.

 One group placed capstones on the stone walls around camp.

The biggest project that this group did was laying sod around the two dorms. It took them all week!!

 Getting the ground ready by spraying it with water (Above)

 Making sure it fits nicely.

The Last Concrete Pour Before Camp

On Tuesday, we had the last concrete pour before camp. We had to get this pour in. We poured down by the garage and the youth group that comes from Chicago between weeks two and three of camp is going to build walls around what we just poured.

Waiting for the concrete truck to arrive

 Done!

We had some concrete left over so we poured a little up by the Trapline Lodge

Almost Here!

Yesterday, Papa Tony's and Grandma Jo's church came here after their church service and had a picnic. They also had a baptism here!

Camp is almost here and we are almost ready! We are going to pour more concrete on Tuesday so Marceaux has been getting the skid steer ready for that. Tony and the guys have been building concrete forms for this. Marceaux has been making sure that all of the lawn and garden tools are operational. He and Karol have also been spreading mulch around camp.

Karol has been mowing the grass and transplanting plants around camp. She has been proofreading the camp counselor manual for Molly. The other day, Karol went to two recycling centers and collected 200 soup cans that we needed for crafts. She also finished the 2013 Camp Daniel banner!

Molly cleaned out the craft cabin bathrooms, office, and the Lumberjack Lodge. Molly also did the top and bottom bunk assignments for camp. Molly, Justin, Jen, and Trish started printing, copying, cutting, organizing, and putting together the camp volunteer manual.

Jen has been getting all of the medical folders and name bracelets ready for camp. She has also been organizing the camp costumes.

Eleven Days Left

That's right! There are only eleven days left until our summer camp sessions begin, and we are almost ready! Justin finished his notes for the counselor orientation and is now working on a presentation for his mom. She is in charge of her church's VBS program. This year they are raising money for new jerseys for The Able Attack Special Olympics team! Justin is also giving a message at Able Church Friday night and preparing for that. Also on Friday, Justin is going to Green Bay to get new leg braces!

Some of you might know that Dan Shields is one of the speakers at camp this year. Well, Tony, Karol, Anthony, Justin, and Molly went up to his church in St. Germain on Saturday and Sunday to talk about Camp Daniel. Molly and Justin stayed with Molly's parents and Tony, Karol, and Anthony stayed withBill and Patty Bonack. 

Karol has been working on getting the supplies and food that we need for camp. She also made the schedule for the staff and workers for weeks one and two. Karol, Annissa, and Trish went through all of the new theme clothes and put them in the appropriate bin for camp.

Tony and Karol went through the check-in/check-out process and completely redid it. Losing camper's stuff has always been a problem. With this new process, the number of lost items will be greatly reduced. Tony has also been working on camper/counselor match-ups. Him and they guys have been making more concrete forms by the garage so we can pour concrete tomorrow (if it doesn't rain).

We got new chairs for the snack stand! They arrived on Monday. Marceaux unloaded them from the semi with the skid steer and the guys opened them and set them up.

Here are the old chairs.

 New chairs in boxes...

 The new chairs!

Molly has been really busy. She helped clean the snack stand with Karol and Trish, cleaned the office windows, mowed the lawn, and installed the window screens in the office. She also created the mini schedules that counselors get and laminated them. She has also been entering in camper and counselor information into the computers.

Trish has also been mowing the grass around camp. She has also been weeding. Trish has been making checklists and food item sheets with updated notes for the camp kitchen.

Tim M. has been working with Emily Neitzer on the plans for messy games. He also has been getting all of the fishing gear out and ready to use for camp.

More Concrete!

We poured more concrete today! This time it went a lot smother! The concrete truck got here on time and the cement didn't dry too fast. 

 Pouring a cement wall down by the garage.

Tim, Trish and the guys smoothing out the concrete by the Trapline Lodge.

 Tony in the skid steer dumping more cement to be smoothed out.

 Karol smoothing it out even more. 

Behind the Trapline Lodge.

Pouring Concrete

Yesterday, we were finally able to pour concrete! However, the concrete place had some difficulty at a different job and we couldn't start pouring until 10:00am. We poured by the garage, behind the dorm, by the Hartley House, and the lake. We had so much that the concrete dried before we could do some of the finishing touches! Oh well!

 Down by the garage.

 Behind the Dorm.

 The new wheelchair path down by the Hartley House.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

The last couple of days, we have wanted to pour concreter around camp. However, the weather has not been cooperating. Neither has the weather channel. It hasn't been very accurate. One day, it said that we weren't going to get any rain while it was raining in our backyard! Oh well! Pray that the rain will go away for a while so we can pour concrete.

In spite of all this rain, we have still been busy. Tony has been working on camper/counselor match ups for camp. This is a long process of figuring out which counselor a camper will be paired with. There are also some counselors who said they are coming but haven't sent in their applications yet. Tony has been calling them to make sure that they send them in. He also built a fence and arch down by the snack stand.

After Tony finished the fence and arch, Molly put two coats of green paint on it. It looks really nice!

 Doesn't it look nice?

Molly also finished cleaning the Lumberjack Lodge. Now she is working on the mini schedules that the counselors can buy for camp.

Karol has been completely redoing the entire checkout process at camp. This is so campers wont lose any of their stuff at the end of the week. She has also been creating the schedule for this years camp. And what is camp without food?! Somebody has to order the food and Karol has been doing just that. That also includes food for special diets. We also need outside help for carnival day. Karol has been working on getting the help we need.

Trish has been working on making checklists for the camp kitchen. She has also been creating the camp menu. We got a couple of truck loads of mulch and Trish has been laying it out all over camp. 

Jen, Marceaux, and MJ went to Michigan for two weeks to be counselors at Joni and Friends. The theme is Olympics so the brought some stuff and they became the Bury Bobsled Team!

Tim M. has been working on the golf carts and now has Papa Tony's, and Justin's golf cart up and running.

Justin has been continuing his work on the counselor orientation. He also has been getting his computer ready for camp chapel services.