a help desk for the Camps, Summer Programs, Retreat Centers and Conference Centers of the Episcopal Church

News

Below is our most current E-news

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E-News #6 May 2008

     Chris Tokarz, the new director of All Saints Camp and Conference Center in Pottsboro, Texas, hosted the spring board meeting for ECCC. She and her staff did a bang up job at this brand new Camp & Conference Center on Lake Texoma.

     New board members Sarah Lydick, Bill Horne, Van Beers joined the returning board members in 3 days of intensive work for ECCC. The board worked on implementing our new strategic plan; the fantastic new initiative called Face-to-Face; our budget and finances (just like we do at our individual camps and conference centers); the annual conference at The Bishop Gray Center in Canton, Mississippi; a marketing strategy and plan; and our ECCC presence at The General Convention in 2009. That was a lot of work for only 3 days.

      Bill Slocumb reported that he has contacted 21 of our camps and conference centers for the very first Face-to-Face trip which the board hopes will become an annual event. The board is trying to bring a face to ECCC for you our camps and conference centers and also to give you a face for our organization in you haven’t been to an annual conference. Bill will be spending up to 3 days at each center asking questions and looking at all aspects of operations in order to see how ECCC may best serve our membership. Thanks to all the centers who have confirmed a visit with Bill and all of us will be able to follow his progress on line through his blog. Watch your inbox for more information. As with any new initiative ECCC could use your help in making this new opportunity possible so please won’t your camp and conference center consider a donation above  (perhaps to sponsor a few miles of Bill’s trip) and beyond your regular dues & personal donations?

     Katie Evenbeck reports that she and Ben welcomed 12 AmeriCorps Volunteers to St. Dorothy’s Rest for 8 weeks of intensive and extensive work. While there they will be making fire breaks around all of the   buildings and building a new Lych Gate during their stay among other projects. Their work translates into     approximately $144,000 in labor given to St. Dorothy’s Rest. If you want to know more about this program please contact Katie at katiesdr@sonic.net

     Tom Eshelman reports that The Valle Crucis Conference Center is in the middle of building 4 hermitages for private retreats as well as a small chapel. Each hermitage is 400 square feet. The chapel will be 330 square feet and all its interior woods, of cherry and hickory, were cut and milled on their property. They hope for completion by the end of the summer or early fall.

     Please remember to put our next annual conference at the Duncan Gray Center in Canton,   Mississippi on your schedule now. The dates have changed so please make note. They will run from Sunday through Friday, January 11 - 16, 2009. Our Presiding Bishop The Most Rev. Dr. Katherine Jefferts-Schori will be our keynote speaker and will spend Sunday evening and over a half day on Monday with us. This is a huge honor for ECCC and we are encouraging you and your board members to come on down to Mississippi and take advantage of all they will have to offer.  It is  going to be a great conference. Thanks to Bill Horne for hosting us.

Please send us your news so we can stay in touch!

 

E-News #5 January 2008

Well the annual conference has come and gone and it was great to see so many of us gathered together at The Bishop’s Ranch where Sean Swift and Jack Dowling and the entire staff went out of their way to make us all feel so welcome. The conference was full of enlightening workshops that gave me and others much to think about now that we are back home at our camps and conference centers. We welcomed 3 new members to your Board of Directors. Bill Horne, Sarah Lydick and Van Beers and we said a tearful goodbye to Evita Krislock and Greg Premo as we thanked them for all their hard work. On our play day we were taken to Goat Rock State Park where the Russian River meets the Pacific Ocean and it was a fantastic sun-filled day full of seagulls, harbor seals, sand, rocks and the ocean. Then we drove to St. Dorothy’s Rest in the middle of a dense redwood forest where Katie and Ben Evenbeck and their staff treated us to an incredible and amazing lunch with a fantastic dessert buffet. But first before we ate we found our way up to the attic under the eaves where all of us put on costumes for lunch. We were seen as we had never been seen before and it was a blast trying on all the incredible costumes Katie has complied. It was also wonderful to have Jack Andersen as our chaplain this year. His meditations are always though provoking and inspirational.

So for those of you who were able to attend we were glad you were there and for those who were unable to attend you were sorely missed. We are an small organization that depends on each other for support throughout the year and especially when we gather once a year for our annual conference. Next year please mark your calendars for January 10th - 15th, 2009 when we will meet at The Duncan Gray Center in Canton, Mississippi. The Most Rev. Dr. Katherine Jefferts Schori will be our keynote speaker. Bill Horne and his staff say, “Y’all come!”

All of us on the board are very excited about a new initiative for the summer of 2008. Our Director of Member Services, Bill Slocumb, will be taking a road trip across the US for 3 months this summer. He will try and visit as many camps and centers as he can for a “Face to Face” visit at your site from the ECCC staff. He will be taking lots of photos for our web site and keeping a daily blog of his travels so we can all follow his progress around the country. If you would like Bill to visit your center please send him an e-mail at staff@ecandcc.org so he can compile his list and make his travel plans. He may not get to every center this summer but we hope this will be an ongoing service to our membership each and every summer. Much of this new initiative will be paid for with a few generous donations from some of our member centers. If your center would like to help please send a check and put Face to Face on the memo line.

One of our members who is part of AA has suggested that each center obtain a paperback copy of the AA Big Book to have as a resource for your guests should the need arise. You can purchase this book from Amazon.

Please remember your personal donations to ECCC are most needed as well as your dues and other contributions your camp or conference may be able to make. Also, if you can open a door to a foundation or other granting group please send Peter or Bill their name and a contact person. In closing please remember to send me your news. This e-mail connection is meant as a service to keep us connected all year between the annual conference and our newsletters but it can only work if you send your news to Bill Slocumb.