Mid-South Youth Camp
Advisory Board Meeting
March 10, 2007
The Mid-South Youth Camp Advisory Board met for its annual spring meeting at Wallace-Gano Dining Hall on Saturday, March 10, 2007. Board Members in attendance were: Frank Bell, Frank Bradford, Ronnie and Dana Branch, Kim Cook, Mike and Missy Eaton, Cynthia Gooch, Larry and Cindy Harper, Danny Jackson, Gayle McDonald, Jack and Gean Seward, Roy Sharp, Gabby Spears, Hershel Spears, Yogie and Betty Spears, Greg and Kelley Swims, Richard Taylor, Jr., Burton Williams, and Mitch and Natalie Zlatovich.
With Boo Spears and Robert Farrow out of town, Danny Jackson opened the business meeting. The prayer for the food was given and those of our number who are sick that were mentioned in prayer were Marie Colvett, Cissy Gooch, and Beverly Bradford. (We were also thankful to have Cissy with us for the meeting. Larry Bloomingburg’s mother is in the hospital in Jackson also.)
Richard Taylor, Jr. gave a figure of $2200 - $2300 net from the BBQ dinner during lectureships that was raised.
Notes about the Endowment:
The land donated by the Colvett family sold in Alamo for $121,556– Fred and Marie’s preference was for the money to go into the endowment fund. Burton Williams gave a preview of the balance of the endowment and the money’s origin. $74,366.82 has been added to the endowment also from the estate of Jimmy and Lisa Kee. Frank Bell made a motion that money from the land sale be moved into the endowment fund. Jack Seward and Mike Eaton seconded the motion. The motion passed.
Frank Bradford gave a report on several items:
Ropes Course is a hot item at camp – camp has much use and income coming in from retreats at camp. $1,750 came in from one weekend. Another $2,000 expected another weekend. Several churches have scheduled activities at Camp. The calendar for the weekends is filling up fast. The Chester County Chamber of Commerce came out and did a leadership program at camp – great experience for them and good publicity for camp.
Bathhouses are still in progress. The men’s bathhouse (one of them) is finished. The ladies’ bathhouse (one of them) is in progress – the tile is laid. The grout has yet to be put in. An invitation to visit was extended to the board members to come look at the changes in the bathhouses. Both bathhouses (one of each) should be complete and ready for camp by first of June. To date, around $22,300 has been spent on the project – a total of approximately $30,000 is expected to be spent - $15,000 per bath house. Also, each bathhouse is now equipped with a new 80 gallon hot water heater. Ricky Moore of Broad Street Congregation in Lexington, TN is doing the work and is doing a wonderful job.
Improvements to be done:
We have 8 feet florescent lighting to be installed in our dining hall. Ricky Moore will do that also. The Kirk Dining Hall has been given a face lift including the infirmary and game room with paint thanks to the GTO club at FHU. Beverly Bradford has spent time making the bathrooms look much better and the girls’ bathroom looks delightful with her flower touches.
Some of the bunk beds in the cabins need repairing or replacing. Jack Seward made suggestion costs was about $100.00 per bunk.
Water is seeping in to the ladies bathhouse. This needs to be remedied. Funds need to be raised to take care of this problem.
At least one teaching station needs to be re-roofed. The shingles have already been donated.
MSYC Camps:
The website for MSYC is new and up. Changes are made almost daily to it. Camp Board Meeting Minutes are on it. The pictures from Junior Camp Weeks 1 and 2 from 2006 are on it and plans are made to have the pictures from regular camp on it soon. Also, the applications for Regular and Junior Camps are now online. Our online application has a place where you can order a t-shirt, pay for canteen, and register for the week of camp paying for all of this on the one application.
Pre Camp or Junior Camp weeks are Weeks 2, 4, and 8 of regular camp. Those dates are June 3-June 8; June 17-June 22; and July 15-July 20. We had great success last year with groups coming from as far away as Huntington, Lawrenceburg, etc. and using a van and the moms spending the day in Jackson shopping or whatever. We are trying to get more groups to do that. Ally Rodgers is our director of the day camps this year and she is no stranger to Mid-South. She was a counselor and then craft lady during her time at FHU and has worked with our Junior Camps the last two summers. The Junior Campers get to go through all the things a regular camper does except spend the night. This includes Bible Class, swimming, hiking, games, crafts, canteen, mail call, and lunch, etc. The cost for this is $75 per week. This year there will be no option to come for a day. Limit of campers for each week is 25 to 30 max.
Regular camp: We do have a need for Bible Class teachers. Frank Bell is our Bible Class teacher coordinator and those interested in teaching should contact him. The price of camp is $150 this year for campers. Worker prices stayed the same – they work very hard. Also, we will have Counselors In Training this summer – CIT’s rather than JC’s. They are preparing to become counselors. We will still offer Co-Counselor positions at no charge this summer for them to come and help. They will not get paid to help. This is a great recruiting tool for FHU. The paper applications for MSYC have already been mailed out for regular campers 18 and below and also to churches within a 150 mile radius of Henderson.
Summer Lunches: We still have access to the federal grant lunch program this summer which saves the camp a great deal of money. All the campers receive a sandwich, chips, fruit, milk, fruit juice and a snack daily.
Scholarship opportunities: Because of memorial donations to the camp fund on behalf of a former camper, Lori Nerrin Farmularo, several scholarships will be available this summer.
Upcoming Fishing Rodeo: 12th Year May 5, 2007
Randy Sullivan moved to Kentucky and is no longer available to help us or lead this project. The camp needed to buy some items for this year’s rodeo. They are electronic scales and a PA system. These have already been purchased and the PA system can be used at camp year round for different purposes.
Aramark has a 1200 square inch grill and will bring it out to camp in May for the Fishing Rodeo and will be using it onsite to cook. We will be selling hotdogs and hamburgers. The grill will come back to camp each Thursday through the rest of the summer to cook the hamburgers for supper.
RJ Farm Supply will be onsite to sell bait at the Fishing Rodeo. They will give a donation to camp.
The state will furnish 120 stringers and also gives approximately 6 rods and reels to this effort each year. Also usually, St. June gives t-shirts to the effort.
Enclosed with the camp board minutes, you will have a sponsorship form, a plain flyer for the fishing rodeo that may be photocopied on to nice paper, a nice flyer for you to take around to show potential sponsors, and a photocopied brochure from two years ago showing the sponsors and a sample application, etc. We need your help to make this a success both in getting sponsors and actually being at the Fishing Rodeo to help.
Camp Board Membership
Various concerns over membership involvement were brought up and discussed. Pros and cons of having limited terms and breaks from membership and rules of membership were discussed. A possibility of terms of three years with a one year break was brought up and has been successful with the FHU Board of Directors. Also a calling committee informing the members of upcoming events and asking for their participation was suggested. We need more member involvement in the meetings, the decision making process, the work, and the events and we welcome suggestions or concerns from our members.
Dismissal
Yogie Spears made a motion to adjourn the meeting and Danny Jackson seconded the motion. Mentioning Mary Bloomingburg’s health situation, Yogie dismissed us in prayer.