Merry Christmas! (We're still working!)

Merry Christmas!

With snow on the ground, and Christmas quickly approaching, you will see less physical progress on the site (cabin-building, digging, etc.) over the coming months. But that doesn't mean we're not doing anything.

Behind-the-scenes, the camp board and building committees are hard at work on the following:

• Getting permit applications into the municipality for our buildings, site plans, septic plans, and temporary kitchen and dining hall plans.
• Continuing to plan fundraising activities, such as the upcoming New Year's Eve party.
• Construction of the 40+ wooden bunk bed frames that will be placed into the completed cabins. We will need many volunteer woodworkers who can each build a few of these, perhaps in their garage or basement, and next spring we will transport these into the completed cabins.
• Construction, in modules, of a few of our camper cabins.
• Planning of a major volunteer work party in the first weekends of May. This is when we expect to dig the foundations, pour the footings, and assemble the completed cabins.
• Planning for activities at our new site, and answering questions like "where will we build the new archery range?" and "where will we put our craft hall?"

Please watch your mailbox! You should receive our Christmas Newsletter which has some photos of our new site and other cool stuff. Please mark the dates in your calendar for our upcoming camp dates. Watch the main website and this blog and we'll provide further details as the dates draw nearer.

On behalf of all of us at Laurentian Camp Cherith, we hope you have a wonderful Christmas holiday!

Cabin Design: Artist's Rendition

Thanks to Kathy Logan (Kittiwake) for providing this beautiful artist's rendition of what our camper cabins are going to look like. We've taken the absolute best things that we loved about the cabins that we used at our previous site, thought about the things we always wished we could have, and retained a rustic styling. Each cabin will be 16' by 24' with an 8' overhang and covered porch. Inside, there's room for 8 bunks for the campers, plus up to two single beds for staff members.

We think you're going to love these!

Fundraising Dinner THANK YOU!

We would like to offer our thanks and appreciation to all the people who came out to support Laurentian Camp Cherith at our fundraising dinner on November 13th. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and appreciated hearing from all of you who shared about what Camp Cherith means to you. And, of course, it wouldn't be a camp banquet without a performance of "The Prince From Far, Far, Away." Thanks, Shamrock and Chili!

With your help we raised almost $20,000 in immediate donations as well as an on-going commitment of over $1,300 a month. Over the course of one year this adds up to a total of well over $35,000!

Between all of our fundraisers and the support we've seen from our camp friends, I estimate we've now raised cash or commitments totalling about $95,000 over a one-year period, which brings us well on our way toward the $130,000 we'll need to get camp running at the new site next year.

So, on behalf of camp, THANK YOU. To every one of you that have offered donations, loans, time, supplies, and prayers. Thank you for demonstrating your commitment, enthusiasm and support for the Camp Cherith ministry. We couldn't do any of it without you. Praise the Lord for providing everything we need, in His perfect timing.

(These figures are unofficial, as I don't have the financial records in front of me. We will be publishing a fundraising progress article soon in our upcoming Christmas newsletter which will provide a breakdown of where the money has come from, and where it will be needed.)

November 13 Fundraising Dinner

On Thursday, November 13, 2008, we will be holding a special Fundraising Dinner at the NDHQ Warrant Officer's and Sergeant's Mess, downtown (near Lisgar Collegiate). This will be a semi-formal event, and we will be providing an evening of dinner and entertainment as well as an opportunity for people to donate toward our fundraising goals.

Our goal is to raise about $130,000 in cash or loan commitments over the coming year, which is how much money is required to build our first cabins, washhouses and outhouses (to supplement our flush toilets, until such time as we can build additional toilets), water purification system, road work, purchase activity supplies, etc. We will require all of the above to be in place in order to run camp out of the new site. Our hope is that this will be ready in time for summer 2009. We know it's a challenging goal, but we also firmly believe that God has been great in providing for all of our needs in the past, and we are confident that He will continue to provide as we need it. I don't have the figures in front of me, but by my estimate we have already raised about $60,000 in cash or loans. We're almost half-way there!

If you are interested in attending our fundraising dinner, please contact us by phone at (613) 288-5806 or email info@cherith.ca. We look forward to seeing you there!

Ground is Officially Broken!

Despite the occasionally drizzly weather, we had a successful little work weekend and on Saturday, September 27th, we held an official ground-breaking, sod-turning and dedication ceremony. Daffy read some Scripture verses, we prayed over the camp, and the Building Committee posed for photos.

We also managed to clear areas for all of the proposed boys and girls cabins, in preparation for laying foundations in the next few weeks (we intend to keep working as long as it is not too cold to work!) Construction on the first few cabins will begin shortly.

On a side note, we've already got a prototype of our new bunk bed frames built, and they're going to be pretty cool! Each set of beds will include a built-in set of shelves as well as a coat hanger rod, so campers can actually hang up their clothes. Many thanks to our sister camp, Camp Cherith - Ontario, for the ideas.

Thanks to all the folks that were able to come out on the weekend. We didn't get as many people as we'd hoped, but I suspect the weather had a lot to do with that. Stay tuned for future work and tour opportunities at the new site!

September 27 Ground Breaking: More Details

This information is copied from the Facebook event that Daffy wrote up:

Lunch will be provided on Saturday, but the rest of the weekend is a bring-your-own food event. If you choose to come Friday evening before 6:00pm, bring some food for a potluck supper; for Saturday dinner and breakfasts, pretend you're camping and prepare accordingly. We have 3 BBQ's, an electric stove/oven and 2 microwaves for your use.

Feel free to come up on Friday night and stay Saturday night too if you choose. Bring your tents, ground sheets and warm sleeping bags. There is room in the cottage and trailers for up to 50 people; first come, first served. Hot indoor showers and flush toilets are available!!

Here is the weekend agenda:

Friday Sept.26
18:00 potluck supper
20:00 campfire and singing

Saturday Sept.27
08:30 Polar Bear Swim
10:00 Sod Turning and Dedication
10:15 work begins
12:00 lunch (provided)
(break for dinner on your own)
21:00 Communists & Christians
22:00 Campfire, Songfest and Celebration

Sunday Sept.28
09:00 Polar Bear Swim
11:00 Camp Prayer Walk and Worship

Things To Bring:
A friend or two
Tent or tent trailer
warm sleeping bags and extra blankets
air mattress or foam mattress
flashlight
work clothes and sturdy shoes
work gloves
rain coat (we work rain or shine)
extra pair of dry shoes and socks
swim suit
water bottle
tools: rake, shovel, large pruners, bow saw
food (in coolers w/ice) for breakfasts or Saturday dinner
a few golf clubs and some balls for a couple holes on Sunday on our little golf course!

Here is a link for a map to camp:
http://tinyurl.com/4pjga7

Camp is:
12 kms from Hopetown (gas and snacks)
22 kms from Lanark
30 kms from Calabogie
38 kms from Almonte
43 kms from Carleton Place
65 kms from Terry Fox Road and 417

Thanks and God Bless for your interest in furthering this ministry to children for Jesus Christ...
...Daffy

Upcoming Ground Breaking Ceremony and Work Weekend!

Come on out to our official groundbreaking ceremony and (the first of many) work party! Please join us on Saturday, September 27, 2008 as we hold a ceremony and dedication at 10:00am, and then join us for a work party as we prepare the site for upcoming construction. Things to do: raking, cutting grass, blazing trails, cutting down small trees, making a road, clearing areas for cabins, preparing concrete forms for cabin footings, and much more.

Please feel free to come up on Friday evening for a potluck supper and campfire, and/or stay over on Saturday night as well -- we will hold a worship and prayer time on Sunday morning. We have space at the camp to sleep up to 50 people in the cottage and trailers, otherwise you will want to bring your own tent or trailer for the weekend. First come, first serve! Remember, the new site has full washroom facilities including flush toilets and showers!

Take advantage of this opportunity to explore our new site for the very first time, and be a part of this historic event! This event is open to all camp staff, alumni, friends and parents. Campers are welcome to attend with your parents.

Please contact Daffy (John Tallett) at (613) 440-0981 to RSVP or if you have any questions. You can also check out the Facebook invitation for this event.

Oil Changers Grand Opening

On Saturday, September 13, 2008, a new Oil Changers location opened at 1457 Woodroffe Ave (at Norice). This was significant to us because for their grand opening promotion, $10 was donated to camp for every oil change or gift certificate sold. They also had a free BBQ, with a cash donation box, and a car wash (for a minimum $5 donation). I showed up before lunchtime to have my oil change and car wash, and the place was hopping. Thank you to all who came out and got your oil changed to support both Oil Changers and the Laurentian Camp Cherith ministry!

I don't have the final numbers yet, but I will post an update when I can. Pictures to follow, as well.

Update: I heard word from Bunny that this was the most successful Oil Changers grand opening (ever!) Between the oil changes, the donations for car washes and the donation box at the BBQ, we raised $2,150! A huge THANK YOU to Oil Changers and to all of you who came that day to support us!

Weekend Update: September 12-14

We had a number of volunteers up on site this past weekend (and, indeed, some of them are still up there. Thank you so much for your hard work!) The primary goal for the next few weeks is to start laying the groundwork (literally!) for new cabin construction. We were able to completely clear four sites, which meant chainsaws and snippers and lots and lots of grunt work hauling trees out. Meanwhile, a more mechanically-minded group (I do NOT consider myself in this category) were working on getting our tractor and riding mowers operational. New site, new toys!

Pictures to follow.

The Transformation Begins

On August 1, 2008, Laurentian Camp Cherith bought a property of our very own.

This was no small feat -- it took almost a year of planning, thinking, deliberating and praying in order to make it happen. And there will be many months ahead of planning, preparing, fundraising and building -- which is what this blog is all about. We want you to be able to keep up-to-date on our planning and construction progress, and give you opportunities to help out with fundraising and construction work.

This is an exciting time for everyone. We have existed, as a summer camp, since 1948, and we have been renting from the same place, Camp Kalalla, since 1969. That's almost 40 years -- three entire generations have grown up going to the same place. We loved it, cherish it, and will miss it... but at the same time that we were renting, we were also looking to find a place to call our own. Somewhere we could run four, or even more weeks of camp, do weekend retreats, run more activities. And as much as we loved those outhouses, you can't deny the allure of real flushing toilets!

We've been looking at properties off and on for decades. I recently went through some old minutes from meetings of the board of directors in the mid 1990's, and those also included some growth plans and evaluations of sites that were for sale at the time. Clarus and Peaches (for those who remember them, and their near-legendary contributions to Camp Cherith as we know it today) were looking at alternate places we could rent from or purchase.

In the fall of 2007, Bunny and Black Bear were driving home from their cottage out in Lanark County when they happened upon River Farm Christian Campground. I'll save that story for another day, but fast-forward to today, we are now the proud owners of 160 acres of land along the Clyde River in the Lanark Highlands.

Keep watching this blog. We'll post photos, show you how we're doing, and tell you about ways that you can help! We look forward to seeing you soon at our new home!