Mid Summer Update

I have been speaking with folks at camp and it sounds as though it has been a great summer thus far at Glenburn. Enjoy it, it's half done (boo!)

I have gotten a bit of an update on Glenburn. I got an email from Joanne Sparkes the other day that describes the progress thus far. It also describes a situation regarding some infrastructure needs that have happened recently. Anyway, here it is:

Hello to all of you.

I thought I would get a quick update out to all of you on the progress with respect to Camp Glenburn.

1) I met with Pat Davis (the Y CEO) as a follow-up to the Alumni presentation to the Camp Task Force. With respect to the Camp Task Force Report, the current expectation is that a final report will be released in late August / September. I am still anticipating that a sub-set of the Alumni will have visibility to that report before it goes to the Y board which will likely be in September (at the earliest.) It would appear to me that things have slowed down due to summer vacations.

2) We have informally formed an Alumni “sub-committee” which has been working at various levels on various fronts in support of Camp Glenburn (ie fund-raising, board / executive communication, etc..) I will “seek permission” to release the names in my next email.

3) At my meeting with Pat, I requested that “we” (the Alumni) be made aware of any infrastructure failures at camp. We felt, and continue to feel that should the Alumni be able to financially remove the capital (financial) “burden” that the Camp Glenburn property currently poses to the Saint John Y, that both the Board and the Camp Task Force will see value in continuing to maintain Glenburn in its current location. Interestingly enough, the Alumni had its first small “test” in its commitment to Glenburn in the past week. As many of you may be aware, there was a septic tank failure approx. two weeks ago. It was quickly addressed and the Camp Glenburn Alumni were contacted immediately for financial support. Given that we do not have specific plans in place as of yet with the Y to do a broad capital campaign to raise money for on-going Glenburn support, the alumni “sub-committee” had to quickly respond to the Y‘s request for funds. We launched what was intended to be a small and targeted campaign to raise money to address this one incident. I am pleased to say that within a week, we have raised more than 5k, and we have successfully covered the cost of the new septic tank that was installed last week. It is very important to note that we are still intending to do a broader campaign to raise money in support of a much larger fund-raising program. In advance of this, we are working to understand the actual infrastructure work that needs to happen at Glenburn so that we can start to raise money to support a proactive plan. Our goal is to build a source of funds to draw on to address both incidents like the septic tank, as well as make proactive investments into the Glenburn property. Stay tuned…this is where we will really need the broader alumni’s support!

Of note: For any of you who may have been contacted directly or indirectly to donate money to Glenburn to address this septic tank issue, if you have already donated, please send me your name (the name of the donor) so that I can ensure that your money does go into the Camp Glenburn capital account that has been set up to support Glenburn…and Thank You!!! If you have been contacted and were planning on donating (but have not done so yet) please hang on to your donation for the time being. We have raised the required funds to address the incident at hand. We will be back to all of you looking for support in a broader campaign.

4) There are still rumors flying. I have heard talk of this (2008) being Camp’s last season, and I have also heard of a report that 2009 will be Camp’s last season. I have addressed both of these rumors directly with Pat Davis, and she firmly states that neither of those rumors are true. No decisions leading to either of the above statements have been made.

5) Lastly, on a positive note….My understanding is that Camp Glenburn is having an awesome season. I have been hearing lots of anecdotal feedback from parents that their kids are having a great time at camp this summer. I would also like to say that I thought the Glenburn Open House to kick-start the 2008 camping season was a great success. It was so nice to re-connect with so many of you.

Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions or concerns!

Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Joanne (Teli)

PS – Happy Birthday Flint for tomorrow (July 29th)…