Tag: volunteering

First Week Back at Sumatanga

Sunday, April 13, 2025

We arrived in Gallant, AL at Camp Sumatanga on Friday afternoon, April 4. It was an uneventful drive from Red Bay and we were fortunate to get out ahead of the storms.  Saturday, we had a list of errands to run.  It reminded us of when we were still working, trying to get everything else done on Saturday.  Retirement is so good!  Sunday we were blessed to be able to return to Lester Memorial again as we do so much prefer in person worship.  We are very thankful for being able to stream the services when we are out of town but in person is definitely the best.

Monday morning Barry joined us to begin work at the camp.  Our first priority is the completion of the remodeling of Cabin 5 as it is needed for summer camp.  Cabin 7 is also being remodeled but is not needed quite as soon.  Some of you may remember that this time last year we were here with a NOMADS team and demolished the old bathrooms in these two cabins (link to last year’s project).  Since then the camp contracted to extend the concrete slabs, frame in new bathrooms and install new metal roofs. This year’s spring NOMADS project was cancelled for lack of sign-ups. (We need more new members – hint, hint.)  We had a few weeks available and decided to spend them here.

Monday and Tuesday the roofers were still working on the cabins and we certainly didn’t want to be in their way so we were sent to start on the girl’s staff hut (with a few detours along the way).  It needs lots of love but we are making progress. Barry did lots of cleaning, while Anne worked on some dry wall and Max worked on some flooring.  On Tuesday, John from our church joined us and he and Barry replaced the leaking vent turbine on the roof.  Barry’s life before retirement was also very helpful because he was able to repair the camps mini excavator.  We also repaired a deck on Cabin 1.

After the roofers finished their work, we began concentrating on Cabin 5 and assisting the plumber with roughing in the plumbing.  We also were able to get a lot of work done on the plumbing rough in on Cabin 7.  On Friday, Donna joined us and we began the electrical rough in on Cabin 5.  It was a good week, and we are enjoying being back with friends at Sumatanga and attending our church in person.

A Swamp Hike and a Another Visit to Red Bay

April 12, 2025

When we last posted, we were still in South Carolina, still visiting with Randy and Debra.  We still walked at least 10,000 steps every day and on Sunday 3/23 we did another new to us hike.  This one was in Augusta, GA at the Phinizy Swamp and Nature Park.  It is a very unique and fun place to hike and all the better entry is free.  While you might not be excited to visit a place with swamp in its name Phinizy actually has some pretty amazing hiking paths through some beautiful wetlands.  We saw all kinds of critters including some very small and very big alligators, beautiful birds and one of the largest snapping turtles we have ever seen.  The park was built by the Augusta wastewater treatment system and the treated waste water is now sent through the constructed wetlands system before being released into Savannah River.  It was a great place to spend a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

The remainder of that week was spent preparing to hit the road again.  We left Johnston Saturday, and spent the night in Oneonta in our church’s parking lot.  We got to worship at Lester Memorial Sunday and attend our Sunday School class.  It was so great to be back at our home church.  From Oneonta we drove Fred to Red Bay to get a slide repaired and new tires installed.  With everything completed, we left Red Bay Friday afternoon just in time to avoid some severe thunderstorms.  We are now back at Camp Sumatanga helping the staff prepare for summer camping season.

Uskichitto Week 2

Sunday, March 2, 2025

Last weekend we did laundry, rested, and bought groceries.   There was lots of rain on Saturday and Sunday, so we were inside most of the time.  There was even water over the road when we drove to church.  When it wasn’t raining, we explored the portions of the camp we didn’t visit during the work week.  We didn’t know there were high and low ropes courses and a BB gun shooting range.  We also found our way down to the river where in better weather we would have loved to be canoeing.  Unfortunately, the heavy rains had the water too high and fast to consider that possibility.

We began the work week with our team splitting up with Max, Anne, Shannon and Mariel continuing to work on the flooring in the pavilion while Gabriela, Lou, Dennis and Pam worked at the dining hall preparing the exterior for painting.  Lou also worked on the tractor.  The flooring was completed Monday with the exception of a small path leading to one bathroom.  The concrete we had to pour to level the bathroom needed more cure time and the team will finish that up during Week 3.

On Monday the camp also had someone cut down a couple of large dead trees that were a danger to a couple of cabins, so on Tuesday NOMADS did all the clean-up/removal of all the debris/limbs.

Wednesday and Thursday we all worked on the dining hall.  There was some damaged wood to be repaired, gutters to be removed, lots of cleaning and scraping, and then lots of painting.  By Thursday afternoon all the repairs had been completed and the first coat of paint had been completed.  A special thank you to the camp board members and church members who provided some wonderful Louisiana meals this week.

Friday morning at 6:00 am, we turned Fred back in the direction of South Carolina.  We hated to leave the NOMADS team and Uskichitto Retreat Center, but were thankful for the two weeks we were able to contribute to the project.  We were especially glad to reconnect with Mariel, Shannon, Dennis and Pam, and to meet Gabriela and Lou.  It was a really good two weeks. 

We made it back to Randy and Debra’s home early Saturday afternoon and we will spend the next few weeks with them except for a quick run to Florida and Alabama.  Randy who is doing much better will be having some same day surgery Thursday so please continue to keep him in your prayers.

Uskichitto Week One

Saturday February 22, 2025

When we last posted, we had just arrived at Uskichitto Retreat Center (pronounced “Whiskey Chitto”) in LeBlanc, LA.  The retreat center has five cabins to house campers for summer camp season.  The cabins are also used during the off season by businesses, clubs and church groups for weekend retreats, meetings and work sessions. We have full hookup camp sites and laundry facilities.  This a three week NOMADS project, but we will only be working the first two weeks.  Mariel and Shannon are our leaders.  It’s so good to work with them again.  We haven’t seen them since the annual meeting last year.  We have team members, Pam and Dennis who we worked with at Camp Sumatanga last year and Lou and Gabriela who we just met.  They are relatively new members from Iowa.

There is lots of work to be done at the camp, but our highest priority is replacing the flooring at the pavilion.  Monday morning it was all hands-on deck to empty out the pavilion of all the sound equipment, furniture, etc. and remove the toilets and sinks from the restrooms and store everything in a nearby building.  That done, we began using various tools to remove the old flooring. Most of the tile actually came up fairly easily.  It was all the glue that remained on the floor that was the problem.  The camp director rented us a machine that made the job easier but there was still lots of time spent on our knees scraping. It was decided that we would be using epoxy paint with color chips to replace the old tile.  After scraping all the old glue up there was dust and dirt everywhere.  Then, we began the process of cleaning the concrete mopping numerous times to get it clean.  With that huge job completed, Thursday afternoon we etched the concrete and then mopped the concrete until clean again.  The mop water had to be clear.  That’s where we left it for the weekend. 

How we had fun all week

When there was a little down time throughout the week, a few of us were able to complete some smaller projects, the repair of some leaky faucets, replacement of some steps, repair of a “soft” spot in a bathroom and window cleaning in the cafeteria.  We worked hard this week and we were rewarded with a fantastic Cajun meal Thursday night prepared by some of the ladies from Squryes UMC. The weekend will bring rest, laundry and perhaps some sight seeing.