A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Camp – 18c -- MORE STAFF STORIES

Staff Communion: It became a tradition at the end of Staff Orientation Week to have Communion.   We had permission of Presbytery each year to serve communion at high school and older conferences.   In one of our earlier years when we were hiring only 25 to 30 college students in the summer, we met in a room about 14’ x 15’.   This was before the lodge was built at Calvin Crest.   Some of the staff asked if they could go blackberry picking and make the juice from the vines on the grounds to use at Communion.  We all agreed. 

            That evening we gathered in this small room with most of the staff sitting on the floor.   The room got very hot and close.  The bread was passed from person to person while reciting, “May the peace of Christ be with you.”  By the time we got to the sharing the communion cup the berry juice had thickened.   You could tell on the faces of people who were drinking the juice that it was hard to swallow.   We heard around us,  “this is the blood of Christ shed for you, drink it if you can!”   Of course, as it went around the snickers and laughter became apparent.   You had to be there. 

Work Hours: It was always a challenge to motivate the program staff persons in particular to pace their work time.   Trying to avoid the “burning the candle at both ends syndrome.”   Their hours were long.   They began at 7 a.m. with a counselor meeting and with their campers through lunch time.   They had a couple of hours off in the afternoon and then they would be on duty sometimes until 11 p.m.    

I would often encourage the Coordinators to be aware of this and to do what they could to get their teams to bed at a reasonable hour.   I would sit in on their team meetings now and then and hear about being tired, no sleep, etc.   I thought I would support the team and came down on the coordinators to have shorter meetings so the staff could get to bed.   It was amazing.   The team, then, would rally around their coordinator and told me not to worry they could handle it.  It was a good lesson for me to let the teams work out their own problems.