Wednesday was perhaps the busiest day I have ever witnessed in the Camping Offices!

Just to give you a slight sense of the bee-hive of activity in our locker room - Our thanks go out to Rich Sherman for coming into the office and helping to put together the finishing touches to the packets for our Reach Out volunteers! Jennifer Christian and Jason Menetti came down from NH to lend a hand by pinch-hitting at a camp fair in Acton and entering Sandy Island registrations on the computer respectively.

Jill Gary, Loretta and I were thus not only able to set up for the Kick Off, but also pick up dinner at the Uptown Gourmet and bring it to the spacious Coldwell Banker Hunneman offices in Wellesley. George Pacheco managed to break away from a leadership training module to pick up Linda and meet us all there, just in the nick of time to huddle.

 

What a way to begin the campaign - by picking up the ball and running with it!! Jill Abrahams provided us with a wonderfully personalized training that set the stage for the evening's success with everyone working from the same playbook. Kirsten Sorenson even intercepted the tough trivia question of how many day camp programs are run by the YMCA of Greater Boston (although the referees had to huddle a bit to see if she hadn't gone out of bounds). While we munched away on tasty sandwiches and salads for a pre-game meal, the staff took questions from the team. Then it was off to the phones!!

 

Dave Lucas and Elliott Barry represented the Yellow team of young alums for the evening. Ginny Hodder, Steve Gordon and John Trump championed the Green team's cause for three different decades. Bobby Morgenstern, Ruth Jameson Debay, Charles and Cathy Sorenson held up the parents' end of things for the Blue team. Vice Chair Loretta Fleurs Goodwin rounded out the contingent with a little international flair for Team Red!

 

Our next two phone-a-thons are at the same location on Tuesday and Thursday night. We could really use your help on the phones!! Come join the fun, especially you young alums who are currently being outnumbered by your elders and are just slightly ahead of the singular member of the Red army :-)

 

Speaking of foreign members of the camping team, we are busily making preparations for the International Camp Fairs in London, where we will be from February 8th to the 19th. Stuart Grimes, Tom Mervoyer, Robert Pearce and Martin Weaver are just some who have already sent word of their intent to return for summer 2001. We hope to see everyone who can make it to London on the 17th for our annual International Reunion. Please send us word if you are planning to come to the Camp America fair on the weekend of the 10th & 11th or would like to help with the festivities on the 18th. The more the merrier... and would somebody please send a certain futbol fanatic the fixture list for London clubs during that period ;-P

 

David B. Goodwin
North Woods Director

"Who's coaching the Junior kickball game on the lower ballfield?"