Archive for March, 2013

Free Camp! Woodstock, Windsor and Rutland

by Tuna

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It’s almost time for Free Camps! What are Free Camps?  They are two-fold:

  1. A chance for you to experience a small piece of camp
  2. A chance for us to share with you what’s happening this upcoming summer at camp

With the obvious intended outcome that you and all your friends sign up for camp this summer!

I think one of the best things about Free Camp is that it is yet another time when the Bethany Birches family comes together.  And, often, it’s a lot of new family members.  There end up being new family members because those already apart of the family bring their friends.  And that’s how camp spreads.  Friend to friend.

In fact, we want to encourage the spreading of camp.  Here are two reasons to come and bring your friends:

  • Bring a camp-aged friend that hasn’t been to BBC before and you both get $30 off of summer 2013
  • Take $10 off for each additional camp-aged friend you bring to Free Camp that hasn’t been to BBC

It’s easy to let us know you’re coming.  Join the event on Facebook, call the office (802-672-5220) or email camp @ bethanybirches.org.

More details here.

Hope to see you at the Free Camps!

Tuna

Volunteers and Video Conference

by Tuna

Last night I had a very fun experience. I had a 3 hour meeting with a bunch of cool people. Here’s the thing – it was all via Google Hangout (a free video conferencing tool). There were 7 of us on the conference in 4 locations.  What makes this more interesting to me is that the meeting was about and for Bethany Birches – a wilderness camp in a rural location. On top of that, the age range of people in the conference was 25-50.  I was surprised that it felt relatively easy to engage with each other and in the content of the meeting.

While this is a non-traditional way for a Christian, wilderness camp to operate, let’s think about some benefits:

  • 7 people representing 3 different states would have to travel a LOT to get together physically
  • That travel costs:
    • A lot of money (auto or plane expenses plus lost time at work)
    • A lot time (1 day instead of only 3 hours)
    • A lot of carbon (we still haven’t main-streamed travel without fossil fuel)
  • Everyone got to finish out the evening in a way they chose rather than driving home.

In short, I’d say it was a worth while way to have this meeting, even for a camp!

I love when an organization invites me to volunteer in a way that maximizes my time and includes me in the right part of a process.  I have a hard time when an organization invites me to  give my time before there is an effective way to use it or before there is clarity around the objective.

Our hope here at BBC is that everyone will consider volunteering here in some capacity and that we will find meaningful ways to plug you in.  It’s not too late to make plans to volunteer this summer!

Tuna