May 21-24 Work Weekend!

A few of us went up to camp for the May 21-24 long weekend.

The weather was beautiful! Too beautiful, in fact -- it was unanimously decided that work would pause in mid-afternoon so we could swim and take the kayaks and canoes down on a tour of the Clyde River. Did you know this was Jay's first time out on the river in a canoe?

The focus this weekend was on cleaning up the property. We mowed -- and mowed and mowed -- and got rid of a lot of the brush and garbage piling up from our construction and renovation projects. There was also some more painting and some more bunk work -- still more to do, however!

We're looking forward to having all of our staff up at camp for pre-camp training in just a few weeks, and the campers begin arriving in just 34 days! There's still much to be done, so keep watching for updates!

Happy Victoria Day!

May 14-16 Pictures!

As promised, here are some photos from the work weekends!

We start with the guys who worked hard clearing trees for our future work shed:

The area in and around the Health Care Center becomes a window factory:

One of the completed, painted, grading-improved washhouses:

Working at replacing the deck on the main washhouse building:

Completing some final exterior construction and then painting the buildings:

Finally, here's Hawkeye enjoying a hearty breakfast!

Thanks to all the great volunteers who came out to help! We had a great time and we hope to see you again next time!

May 14-16 Work Weekend

Thanks to all the volunteers who came out to the second work weekend in spring 2010! We had a great time and got a lot of work done! The weather was fantastic (no snow, unlike last weekend!) Pictures are worth thousands of words so we'll let them speak for themselves. Here's a summary of what we did over the weekend:

• A completely new deck was built at the entrance to the washhouse.
• All cabins' remaining exterior sheathing were completed.
• Several picnic tables were refurbished.
• Grading was improved around both the boys' and girls' washhouses, including patio stones at the entrances.
• All the cabin and washhouse exteriors were painted to protect them from the elements.
• 4 more cabin floors were painted with floor paint.
• All of the remaining leaders' beds were completed in the girls' cabin area.
• A number of window shutters were produced, assembly-line style. These are being put together into completed, ready-to-hang window shutter assemblies.
• Cabins 1 and 5 were each partially outfitted with completed shutter units, including two prototypes of "swing away" screens that we'll use to access the exterior shutters from inside the cabins. We'll start converting all of the cabin screens to this style.
• Cabin 1 was outfitted with screen assemblies for each window.
• Tree clearing was started in the area where the new quonset hut will be located.

Pictures to follow!

Camp Cherith thanks everyone who came out to help! We look forward to seeing you again in the future!

“Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail..."

The work weekends have begun! Spring work parties are a tradition at Camp Cherith, and now that we own a property we certainly have no shortage of work to do. We are so thankful to all the volunteers who share the workload!

That being said... brr! Our first volunteer work weekend of 2010 featured a bit of everything -- sun, wind, rain, even hail and SNOW! Still, lots of work got done and we enjoyed eating, sharing, and laughing together throughout the day. Many thanks to the 18 intrepid volunteers who made it out!

Here's a sampling of what we got done this past weekend:

• Felled logs were chopped into firewood
• Cabins and buildings swept out and cleaned up
• Additional work on bunk beds in the girls' cabin circle
• Replaced temporary screens with proper framed screens
• Beginning of work on building window shutters for cabins
• Repairs and conversion of Nurse's trailer to stop leaks in the roof

There's still lots to do, including painting the cabins inside and out, window shutters, clearing land for the installation of the new quonset hut storage shed and staff parking area, raking, new electrical work, and lots more. We hope to see you at our next work weekend this coming May 14-16! Please email us at info@cherith.ca to let us know when you're coming so we can make enough food to feed everyone.