Lowering The Roof

Well, retreat season ended and Summer started on the same day, it seemed. I find it amazing how the Summer starts, and things that were getting light to moderate use begin to fail. Every good intention to update the blog faded into obscurity while the need to maintain stuff invaded my thought life. Anyway, here we are again. Summer is ending. Now, lets see if I can remember anything I was intending to say.

SOWERS worked on the new floor in the dining hall and did an awesome job. The sunk-in area is no longer sunk-in and even though the watch your step signs are still there (for some reason), you can just keep on walking. Some staff have commented that they still occasionally try to step up when approaching the serving line. I must admit I am among them. One residual effect of the dining hall floor project was that the fireplace in the serving line area needed to come out. This resulted in having more space in the pots-n-pans room and and a little more in the kitchen -something I like to call a balloon project. We also opened the doorway that exits the dining hall by the tray room. Traffic flows a little easier and it all looks really good. SOWERS also spent some time in the doorways between private rooms at Four Seasons and made them a bit more private by insulating the doors between them -a lengthy, arduous task that took some patience.

Once again, I find myself talking about volunteers -commentary on the fact that we cannot make the kind of progress we make without them.

The Recruiting Road

So its that time again - time to recruit staff for summer 2009! Its hard for some to see that far ahead, but for us here at the camp the summer is already way too close. There's a lot to get done in the very short 4 months before our staff begin to arrive. This year we are hoping to have quite a few of our staff from this last year return, but we are also hoping to get quite a few newbee's. This summer our goal is to hire between 60 and 70 students to live, serve, and grow here at the camp. Although the large majority of our staff comes by word of mouth, we still do several recruiting events at different college campuses. Above is a photo of some of us at a restaurant in College Station doing some recruiting. If you are interested in working a summer at Camp Tejas, or know someone that might be, send me an email or check out our SMT website: http://www.tejassmt.org/.

Seth Gordon

Recreation Director

Trash that's not so.....trashy

Just at the end of summer Paul, the Retreat Director, and I had been talking about what we could do to get some trash recepticles that looked a little better. The atrium at Four seasons, for example, has been littered by something that most people take out to the curb -hardly fitting the motif of the meadows retreat center. Anyway, expense for such an unnecessary item was like an elephant in the room. So, as funny as it may seem, I occasionally prayed about it. I began to look on the internet and asked around to see if someone out there was getting rid of some better looking trash cans -the kind that are not made of plastic; that don't fall over and roll down the hill every time the wind blows; and my most desired feature.....racoons can't lift the lid.

Then, while at the recent directors retreat, it came to me. I scribbled out a little drawing and two talented guys on the maintenance staff, Matt and Jeff, whipped out the prototype. The next day volunteers reproduced it seven times. More have been made since and more are being made to replace the unsightliness of trash all over the camp.

My favorite part? The hinges for the lids are about six bucks a pair. The lumber, like so many other unique things around here, used. And the labor......you guessed it -volunteer.

I've got two words for the elephant, Paul. Cha and Ching. Yes, the Lord is involved in the small matters of men.

Mike Newton - Facilities Director

Cutting-in

Just when you think Four Seasons could not be more colorful, someone comes along with another colorful idea. The finishing touches involved the use of all the colors in the meadows pallet from Mouse Ears black to Mexican Chilli. The atrium ceiling, which consists of 490 2' x 2' squares, is now more psychadelic than the dance floor on Saturday Night Fever. A great deal of patience, a steady hand and possibly some ibuprophen to stave off the neck pain is a formula necessary for this kind of work. Work that Campers on Mission and M.M.A.P. have spent a lot of time on during these recent months.

All of this just continues to add to the unique nature of the meadows retreat center. This is a trend that I know will carry into the future of the camp.

Mike Newton - Facilities Director