Update – Starting a New Camp

I. Am. So. Freaking. Excited!!!

So remember back in this blog post I mentioned the proposal I was submitting to start managing rentals for the camp I was partnering with.

Well I met with the camp committee last week (after weeks of terrible, stressful, waiting) and went through both the end of season report and the proposal, they all seemed on board then said ‘ok great, we like it, now if you could just turn both of these documents into power point presentations and present to the board of directors that would be great.’

So earlier this week I presented my end of season report as both a high level power point report, and a more detailed hard copy.

And the board members were adorable!!

One of the board members said, “Patti…. this is… you put a lot of work into this!!” Then he looked around the room and said, “We’ve never had anything like this before!” and the board member next to him said “yeah, it’s really … professional.. isn’t it?!” and they all agreed that it was indeed professional and a good report. LOL

I adore these senior board members – they make me feel like a rock star for submitting a pretty standard, yet comprehensive end of season report.

Anyway, once I had buttered them up with my excellent report writing skills (lol) I moved on to the proposal – and I was SO NERVOUS!!!

But I powered through, I explained how I envisioned the partnership moving forward, how the rental costs would be distributed (I’ve asked for a percentage of rentals, the amount will vary depending on whether the rental group was recruited by me or by a board member and depending on the type of rental, if they’re looking for a facilitator, etc. and sometimes I’ll technically be the renter, because I’ll be running my own programs – there’s a whole matrix).

Anyway, it went great!

They voted to approve, and now I’m the shiny new… ok, I don’t know what I am… there’s no title for this… contracted rental manager?… Sort of volunteer but not really rental manager? Sometimes renter, sometimes rental coordinator? Rental partner? ……. leave it with me.
Or make a suggestion, I clearly need guidance.

Anyway, after that, stuff has started moving fast, I’ve applied to register my name, which is the first step toward incorporation and I’ve started working on some promo stuff.

THIS. IS. SO. EXCITING!

Guys, I’m telling you, doing the things that scare you is totally worth it!!

So what this all means for my little camp program is that I’ll start making a little money way sooner than I thought (which is really nice) AND creating a robust rental program will help raise awareness of both camp programs so hopefully they’ll both start to grow.

Exciting times, guys.

But enough about me, where are you guys focusing your time and energy right now? Any topics that you’re interested in talking about?

I have a few ideas for upcoming blog posts, but I’d love some suggestions.

Until next time. xo

August Update

What an exciting couple of months it’s been!!!

Here’s a little update about what’s been going on:

Patchwork Marketplace

Curt and I are so excited that people have continued to use Patchwork during the summer months. We expected tumbleweeds to be blowing through but it seems that people are always looking for high quality, low-cost resources even at the last minute which is just fine with us! We’re starting to shift gears now and focus on the community rec folks, cause we know after school programs will be starting up soon and people will be looking for resources for those programs too.

Enjoying the Journey

A couple of weeks ago I dropped my husband off at work, and had planned to go to the gym on the way home. I had a whole list of things I wanted to get done that morning and had about 30 minutes for the gym.

As I was driving I was coming to a turn in the road that would lead to a local park/ trail. At the last-minute I thought, ‘You know what? Today is a beautiful day! I’ll go for a 30 minute walk instead of the gym’. I took the last minute turn and got excited about venturing out on the little walking trail I’d been on a few times.

Patchwork Marketplace

Hi camp friends,

If you follow me on social media you would have seen me post about this already, but I thought I’d share a little more info about it here. I am just so proud and excited about this project. And if you don’t follow me on social media, this will be brand new information! Exciting! Also, let’s be friends, all of my social media links are on the sidebar. –>

How Patchwork Marketplace Came To Be

Ok, so if you’ve been around these parts before you may have seen this post by Curt Jackson in my “Path” series. And also this post about how exciting it is to work with new people in blog land and in camping. Well, once Curt and I chatted a bit, wrote for each other’s blogs we decided that we wanted to work on another project together. We brainstormed a little bit, designed some (awesome) t-shirts, wrote a few fun quizzes and other posts but we were still looking for a bigger project to work on.

Then he mentioned that he always thought it would be neat to have a site similar to the ones available for teachers but for camp and recreation professionals.

Cue record scratch.

Hold the presses.

That’s freakin’ brilliant!

I said, “umm, YEAH!” so we put all of our resources into creating Patchwork Marketplace.

And I’m super excited about it.

Then we came up with the name Patchwork because it sort of encompassed all of the things we were trying to accomplish with the marketplace. There’s an explanation on the site, click here to read it.
(If you join our beta test, you can have access now. More about that at the bottom)

Collaboration friends, it’s where it’s at!

Sooo… What Is It We’re Doing?

Serendipity and Summer Camp

Let me tell you a neat little story…

 

In September I saw a Facebook post that a local camp was having an open house/ ecumenical service. I’d never been to the camp before and it was only about 40 minutes away PLUS they’re not a member of my Provincial camping association (which I’m involved with) so I thought I’d check it out and chat with some board members to try to convince them to join.

 

I rounded up my husband, my mom and dad (cause they love that type of thing – my parents, not my husband… it’s not his thing, but being supportive is 🙂 ) and off we went.

 

We got to the camp and it was lovely! The buildings were looking good, there were some great fields and wooded areas and a waterfront with a lot of potential.

 

We attended the service, then afterword they announced that you could head over to the bbq, tour the facility, etc. Mum and dad headed to the bbq and hubby said “great, we can wander around like they said and you can check the place out” to which I replied “no way, I want a guided tour, let’s find a board member!” because I had questions, and I wanted to see EVERYTHING!

 

So we wandered down to the waterfront and back because there were people going that way (it was hard to tell who board members were) and on the way back this gentleman was walking with two other people and explaining something to them about the outdoor chapel.

 

So of course I made my way over and said “Excuse me, sorry for interrupting,  I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation, are you a member of the board?” He was very kind and told me he was and that they were just heading over to see the outdoor chapel so of course I said “Oh that sounds wonderful, do you mind if we tag along?”.
He was thrilled that we were so interested (generally, people love talking about their camp) and off we went.

 

After that he offered to give us the full tour of camp so I obviously jumped at the chance, my husband was both in awe and a little embarrassed (I think) at my enthusiasm and the number of questions I asked about their program, facilities, camper numbers, everything.
But the board member was delightful, I gave him my business card and then he introduced me to some other board members and I gave them my cards as well.

 

It’s a small faith-based camp that was closed during 2016 because they needed to do renovations, prior to that, campership had been declining to the point where they only ran one session in 2015. This fall open house was their launch of a new era, one where they’re rebuilding and re-imagining their program. So I asked them what their plans were, if they were thinking about hiring an ED and they said that they just didn’t have the resources for that right now, so everything would have to be done on a volunteer basis.

 

After the visit…

Starting a New Camp

 

 

Raise your hand if you’ve ever daydreamed about starting your own camp…

MEEE TOO!!!!

(High five!)

 

So, since I’m a such big proponent of doing things that scare you, I resigned at my current camp and am setting out on a new adventure! (A new “path”, if you will…)

 

I’m going to start my own camp. I’m still in the early stages now, but I’ll be sure to post updates about where the journey takes me.

I’m terrified, I feel like I’ve jumped without a parachute… but I’m also exhilarated and excited. (And did I mention terrified?)

 

 

Are any of you camp owners? I’d love to hear from you, I’ve been connecting with people who’ve been down this road before and asking for advice – so reach out to me if you have some wisdom you’d like to impart.

 

AND

The Path We Take … Curt’s Story

I’m really excited to share today’s post with you all. In my third installment in The Path We Take series we focus on Curt “Moose” Jackson, the creative and dynamic force behind the Summer Camp Programming website among other projects.

While I’ve yet to meet Curt in person, I’ve long admired his brilliant and creative programming ideas – and the fact that he has been able to bring camping professionals from around the world together to share ideas in his roundtable compilations.

(click here for information on how to participate in future email roundtables)

Now that I’ve had a chance to learn a little bit more about Curt through this process, I can also say that I admire his candor (he got real folks – and it was awesome!) and his drive to continue to explore, learn, create, and improve the level of programming we offer in the camping industry. 

I hope you enjoy learning about Curt’s journey as much as I did, and if you have any questions, comments, or just want to tell Curt how awesome he is, tell us about it in the comment section below. 

 

Tell us about yourself.

 

Yikes, this is a broad question. It all started when I was a twinkle in my mother’s eye.

Just kidding.

I grew up an only child to a loving single parent in Southern California. My mom was a nurse who worked long hours and I was a latch-key kid. She passed away from cancer when I was 15. Unfortunately, nobody in my family wanted to take on the burden of raising a teenager. So after getting tossed around a bit between aunts and uncles my grandparents took me in. Six months later my grandfather passed away. Those two years were rough and had a big impact on my life, positive and negative.

I’ve always wanted to be an actor or a rock star, but I know that if I really did either of those careers I wouldn’t enjoy them. Besides, camp gives me the chance to do both with camp skits and camp songs. As a young kid I wanted to be a professional baseball player or a magician. Come to find out, I wasn’t very good at either of them, but I still like to pull out some magic tricks when campers are around.

I like road trips, the ocean, Moose Tracks ice cream, campfires and the smell of freshly cut grass.

I don’t like inconsiderate people, Brussel sprouts, humidity, and movie theaters that don’t have stadium seating.

This is one of Curt’s super cool trading cards he offers on his site. You can order them here.