Executive Meeting

A few years ago, we took out a loan to make up for the money we were losing and the loan is due at the end of October. We don’t have $150,000 to pay it back and that was the main catalyst for thinking about closing camp. But ultimately, closing an almost 70 year old camp over $150,000 seems crazy. That’s not THAT much money. I don’t happen to have that much spare cash laying around, it’s obviously a LOT of money. But some nonprofits raise that in one event, so it just seems like a tragedy to close down over that much money.

So I talked to ‘B’ and asked him if he would help me burn down a building. ‘B’ is a camp alumni and has been volunteering with us for the past two summers. Besides me, he is possibly the most dedicated, passionate, committed and in love with camp person I’ve met.

He’s also the calmest, most reasonable person on the planet, and he nicely explained that he didn’t think that was a very good idea to commit a felony, but that he would help me meet with the bank to take out a mortgage on our property (Which is worth millions). He also agreed to take over as board president if I could figure out a way to get ‘J’ to step down.

‘B’ and I came up with a plan, well, more like the outline of a plan, but a plan. Step 1- get some money to pay off the loan and buy us some time to get this organization running well (ie- raise enough money to not be in debt each year). Step 2- rebuild the board with people who would help us fundraise and be active with the organization. Step 3- Develop a long-term strategic plan for the organization. Step 4- fundraise a bunch of money.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve reached out to a few board members and all of them agreed that they didn’t want to see camp close. I set up a meeting with the executive committee and prepared for battle. I wasn’t sure how the three of them would react to this new plan, but I had a speech ready, handouts and, in the worst case scenario, I knew I had numbers on my side and if it came down to it, I could fight them and win. They can’t close the organization without a vote from the board and I had the rest of the board on my side.

I went into the meeting totally unsure of what they would say. But when I said, “what if, instead of closing camp, you guys step down and let me try to save it” ‘J’s reaction was, “I’m on the edge of my seat”. I think I’ve sort of amused/confused/bewildered all of them ever since I arrived at this camp so many years ago and passionately and confidently argued for them to give me the chance to run camp. Once again, I asked them to give me a chance. I showed them the “plan”.

Wisely, they asked, “so how are you actually going to do all of this?” How am I going to rebuild the entire board, come up with a strategic plan, raise a bunch of money??? I said, “well, to be honest, I don’t know. But I want the opportunity to try. And if it doesn’t work, there will be less equity to start a foundation with, but since we don’t have a plan for the foundation anyway, it’s not like this would hurt or take away anything from anyone.”

Seven years after they shrugged their shoulders and handed the title of Executive Director to a 26 year old, once again, they shrugged their shoulders and said, “if you want to do it, we’ll let you try.”

I walked out of the meeting light on my feet, nearly floating. And then shortly after that, got mad. Really mad. WHY does the fate of this stupid camp always rest on whether or not I am involved? If I want to quit, they say it will close.

‘J’ agreed to meet with the bank and help me refinance our loan. As it turns out, the money was easier to solve than I’d thought. Thank goodness I didn’t burn down a building!

The entire board is going to step down at the end of December. So, I just need to find a bunch of really committed, hard working people to take over in the next 2 months.

But in the meantime, ‘A’ still has a job, camp is saved and we need to start planning summer 2015!

Camp Wedding

Okay, so, I didn’t commit felony arson. I didn’t really have time, or actually know how to burn down a building. And several other issues. A life of crime just wasn’t going to work for me, no matter how much the insurance money would have helped.

Instead, I got married. 10/4/14 (a great date for an anniversary!). It was a perfect weekend… okay, well, it was a weekend filled with near disasters and so many “camp” things. But it was prefect to me. I married the man that I love. All of my family and friends (not to mention bulldogs) were there. And we were at camp… the place I love.

A, M, B and I spent the week at camp, decorating, setting things up, getting ready. It was like a wedding themed pre-camp. We laughed a lot and had a lot of fun. I couldn’t stop thinking about how important this camp is and how I need to save it.

‘N’ arrived Thursday and we headed to the dining hall for last minute decorating. I was lecturing him about the golf cart being a camp tool and not a toy. We walked into the dining hall and heard a giant crash. The golf cart, which I have driven every day of the summer for many years, the golf cart that is not a toy and must be treated as a tool, the golf cart I wouldn’t let my to be husband drive… it had rolled backwards down the hill and crashed into the propane tank. The dining hall was NOT the building I had considered burning down.

There was a small gas leak, but we got the tank shut down and luckily, the gas company was able to come out first thing the next morning to repair the tank.

Friday was the rehearsal, which was supposed to be followed by a cookout and campfire for 80 people. It rained on and off all day, and by the time the rehearsal came, I was not wearing the beautiful lacy dress I’d bought for the occasion, instead, I was wearing rubber galoshes. The “cookout” got moved into the basement of the dining hall. The cooks were amazing and grilled everything in the rain and brought all of the food inside.

Near the end of the rehearsal, in typical camp fashion, the power went out. I’d insisted on having a generator for the weekend, so we were only in the dark for a short period of time.

The weekend before the wedding, it was 80 degrees and sunny. Our wedding day, however, was 37degrees and windy. As we were taking photos, I held out hope that we could get married outside. My husband to be, my mom, my best friend- each was sent to reason with me throughout the morning. It wasn’t until a little less than an hour before the wedding that it finally hit me that we couldn’t possibly be outside for the ceremony. At that point, the whole wedding team (several former camp staff had come back to help with set up, clean up, serving meals, etc) went to work setting up the chapel.

As photos ended and I had the realization that we couldn’t get married outside, I noticed Olivia’s face was puffy. And within minutes, her eyes were almost swollen shut. I don’t know if she got bit by something or rubbed her face on some kind of plant. I gave her 2 benedryl and FREAKED out as I was practically dragged from the house to the chapel. I was prepared to drop everything and rush to the emergency vet, but luckily the wedding party didn’t agree with me and we all (still swollen, drugged Olivia as well) made it down the aisle.

The ceremony was actually really lovely in the chapel and then we were married! Olivia’s face seemed to be less swollen, although I made ‘A’ check on her several times during the reception. The reception was super fun and everything I’d imagined. We danced all night and it was a blast.

The next day, everyone was back for brunch and then ‘N’ and I went to a bed and breakfast for a few days of rest and relaxation. ‘A’ and the wedding staff pulled out docks and shut everything down for the season. We still don’t have a plan for selling camp, so at this point, it’s just packed up like normal.

I had a perfect camp wedding. It was everything I’d imagined. Now that the madness of wedding planning is over, I can focus on my new task at hand- fight for camp. I’m not ready to give up yet.

Felony Arson

I’ve been very seriously considering felony arson for the past few days. Indian Point Lodge is a big historic building (built in 1923). It is located in the center of camp but we don’t actually use it for very much. It is insured for $600,000. If I burned it down, we could save camp. And since it isn’t vital to camp operations, we could figure out how to rebuild eventually, but in the meantime, camp is saved and we can live with a big empty space in the middle of the property.

I know there are a few issues with my plan-

The first issue I can’t quite figure out is the timing. I am getting married in one week. I don’t have time to go to drive 3 hours to camp to start a fire. The other issue is that I really don’t want to have a big mess in the middle of camp for the wedding. After the wedding would be much better, except that right after the wedding, ‘N’ and I are going on a mini-moon for a few days at a bed and breakfast. So I’ll have to wait until I get home.

Another big issue with this plan is that I haven’t run it by ‘N’ yet because he would not support his new wife delving into criminal activity. He’s way too pragmatic for that sort of thing. Which means I’m going to have to figure out how to sneak away without him knowing I’m at camp (because I can’t be at the scene of the crime when it happens or that will look suspicious).

I figure that I am going to have to sneak onto camp without any neighbors noticing me. Our property manager once told me that one of the neighbors has a security camera in his yard, so I’m not sure how I can drive into camp without anyone knowing I was there. I’m thinking maybe I could turn my headlights off once I hit the dirt road. It’s about a mile from the main road, down the dirt road onto main camp. Except that camp is on a peninsula, so there is water on both sides of the road for the majority of the mile drive, so I’m not exactly sure if I could make the drive without ending up in the lake.

Assuming I could sneak into camp (I’m imagining myself in all black clothes, sneaking across the property) and then into the building), there are more issues I will have to deal with. First of all, camp is super creepy when it’s empty and especially in the dark. I’m not sure I have enough courage to go into the dark building alone (I might not be brave enough to be a criminal). And then there’s the issue of starting a fire- I can start a campfire, no problem. But I am not sure how to start a fire that looks like an electrical fire or something legitimate (and not criminal).

So I’m going to have to start a fire that is strong enough to destroy the entire building. I probably have to stick around long enough to make sure my fire really catches. But I need to leave the scene quickly so no one knows I was there. I need to be 3 hours away from home without my husband knowing I’m gone.

And then I have to act really surprised when I “find out” the building burned down.

If I don’t execute this plan correctly, I could either hurt myself or someone else or end up in prison for arson.

It’s not a foolproof plan. But it would save camp.  

Change of Heart

This past weekend, the wedding team (A,M,B and I) spent the weekend at camp. We were walking through all of the details of the ceremony and reception, decorations, signs, etc. The weather was warm and sunny and I alternated between giddy excitement and utter depression. I’m SO excited for the wedding. But I can’t wrap my head around camp closing. All summer long, it was far in the future. It seemed forever away.

We’ve spent a month hanging out at the office- doing nothing, waiting for answers. It’s been nice to plan a wedding, but boring.

And now the end is almost here. ‘A’ will be without a job and I will be left in the office by myself with a camp to close, a foundation to create and absolutely no direction or answers about how to go about either.

As I walked around my beloved camp, I just kept thinking, “no. NO. THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING.” 67 years this camp has been here. And I’m the one who is going to let it close?!

It’s just such an amazing place. It can’t close.

And the thing is, it’s relatively simple, when you break it down.

Two years ago, we took out a loan and in October (like 2 weeks from now), we have to pay it back. But we don’t have $200,000 to do that. So we’re closing down.

Over the past 7 years, our enrollment has improved. Our fundraising has improved. Our reputation has improved. We’ve made updates to the property. EVERYTHING has improved. Not so much that we have enough to pay off the loan, but enough to step back and realize that closing camp now would be ridiculous. Camp has been WAY worse off. Why are we closing it now?!

In May, a neighbor approached camp and offered to buy the property. But he’s come back to the board and changed the deal several times. It’s not going to work out with him.

We decided to sell the property because it seemed like it was time. We’ve struggled for years, and while we are making improvements, it’s still a 67 year old camp in need of major updates. It’s hard to recruit kids. It’s hard to fundraise the amount of money we need each year. And we didn’t have a plan for the loan. And we had a buyer. And quite honestly, all of us are just tired. Many of our board members have been on the board for 20 years (some 30-40 years!).

But we’re really talking about $200,000, which is a lot, sort of. But there are organizations out there that raise that at one fundraiser, so in the grand scheme of things, it’s really not very much.

So I’ve been laying in bed, dreaming up ways to save camp. This can’t be it. I don’t have $200,000, but come on, that’s not very much money. It’s not “close a 67 year old camp” level money.

I don’t know what I’m going to do in the next 2 weeks, but I am fired up. I am re-energized. And I can’t let this camp close down.

Not Much to Do

Camp ended, I moved back to the city. I took 2 weeks to unpack, relax, get re-adjusted to life. And then I went back to the office, sat at my desk and just sort of stared off into space for a while.

I looked at some parent feedback forms, sent a few last emails from the summer, took care of some random odds and ends.

Usually this would be the time that I was planning the themes for next year and getting stuff ready for early bird registration in October. But camp isn’t going to be here. But we haven’t sold it. We haven’t come up with any ideas about the foundation.

I decided that we were going to keep ‘A’ on as a full time employee until October 1. The idea is to have her help me with all the end of summer stuff and the beginning of the foundation stuff. Except that there isn’t much left to do for the end of the summer and since we have no idea of what’s happening, we don’t have anything to do.

The board doesn’t have any answers for me. So ‘A’ and I have been professionally planning my wedding. We come into the office every day and are working hard. Camp is one giant event, or 10 week long events, or like, 90 days worth of events- however you want to look at it- so planning a wedding, even a whole wedding weekend, is what we know how to do.

I’m so excited for the wedding. I’m excited to marry ‘N’ and all the romantic, lovely, start our life kinda things.

But also, this is the ultimate camp event. And if camp has to end, this is the way I want to go out.

My family and friends- basically everyone I love the most in life are coming to camp to celebrate. Friday is the rehearsal, followed by a big cookout and campfire. Saturday will be the wedding. Sunday will be a brunch. Camp is going to look gorgeous. It’s going to be so fun. I am so excited. This has been my home away from home for 7 years. I am so happy that camp is part of this important day.

And so we’re planning a wedding with the same enthusiasm and creativity that we usually give to camp. I should probably feel bad about wasting company time, except that the “company” won’t exist soon. And the foundation will be great, I’m sure it will be great, but I don’t feel passionate enough about it yet to be concerned about the small amount of money our salaries are costing (and thus being subtracted from said future foundation).