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NOTE: This article is far from finished. More details are forthcoming... but don't hold your breath.

Lalla's Memoral Garden Started!

© Amy Blackman 20089/10/23 After camp ended, a crew of people started the planting for Lalla's Memorial Garden along the road side of the back field! This is a project that's been in the works since the state widened Rte. 302 and took a narrow strip of our property adjacent to the road and cut down all the trees on it. The back field along that swathe has been bare and open to the road for four years now.

The new plantings will take many years, decades even, to grow enough to become a new privacy barrier, but this is a long-term legacy for future generations.

FNCA Mid-Winter Board Meeting Votes to Keep the Rates the Same for 2023

1/21/23 The FNCA Board of Directors held its annual mid-winter meeting virtually on Saturday, January 21, 2023, with the full Board in attendance. Under the leadership of our new camp president, Dan Dyer, the meeting moved right along and finished all its business in what may be a record mid-winter meeting time of about 4 hours and 15 minutes.

Here are a few highlights of some of the decisions the Board made:

1. Camp rates will stay the same for the 2023 camp session. After a lengthy discussion of projected income and projected expenses, and despite the fact that food prices have risen signficantly in the past year, the Board voted unanimously to not raise the rates for camp this year and instead focus more energy towards fundraising. It costs us around $65,000 per year to keep the Assembly running. Around 25% of that is from camper fees (what people pay to attend), and the rest is all from donations big and small. So we decided to turn our attention towards increasing that other 75% instead of raising the rates this year.

2. Treasurer's Report. FNCA Treasurer, Bob Perry, © Jon Cousins 2014reported that not only was attendence way down last year, but donations were also way down, causing some stress in paying our bills. Many campers make significant contributions during camp when they pay their bills, so fewer campers means fewer donations. There were quite a few questions about "camper days", staff compensation, comparison between finances for 2022 and 2019 (our last "regular" year), and more.

3. The new position of Camp Librarian was created and Nancy Little was appointed to it. Nancy is an Information Literacy Librarian at American International College in Springfield MA, and before that was a Reference Librarian at Springfield Technical Community College, also in Springfield MA. Nancy spearheaded the 2022 Work Weekend project of sorting, weeding, and rearrangement of the Assembly's religious library in Whitehead Hall, which was met with much acclaim at camp last year.

4. Lalla's Memorial Garden. A wooden fence has been © Amy Blackman 2008installed along the back lawn where Lalla's Memorial Garden will be. Planting is currently expected to start this Fall. Colgate would very much like help from anyone who has skills in this area, and donations are still being accepted.

5. Camp Director, Beki Greenwood, gave highlights of the recent Summer Session Committee meeting. © Trevor 2022This year's Lecture Themes will be: Week One - "I'm in the Bible, and the Bible's in Me"; Week Two - "Finding Holiness in the Word, Now and Every Day". The 2023 Everett K. Bray Visiting Lecturer will be our denomination's President and former Dean of our theological school, the Rev. Dr. Jim Lawrence. The Opening Weekend Program is yet to be determined.

The 2022 mid-winter FNCA Board meeting ended with a closing prayer by it's newest member, the Rev. Kevin Baxter, former director of the Almont New Church Assembly, our sister church camp in Almont MI.

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