FNCA NEWS! 2011

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FNCA NEWS!
2011

1/21/11 1/22/11
5/2/11 5/27/11 5/31/11
7/5/11 7/26/11
8/6/11
10/11

Riverside RI — Friday, January 21, 2011

The FNCA Summer Session Commitee(SSC) met at the home of FNCA Religious Education Director Rev. Susannah Currie for 2+ hours this evening. The SSC is the people who put together the camp program each year. The SSC usually meets the evening before the FNCA mid-winter Board meeting. Most of us are also Board members, so it's a convenient meeting time; plus there are usually things we need to discuss before presenting them to the Board.

Our meeting agenda included review of last year's session, the new Opening Weekend Program, the new Senior Flames category, the 2010 Camper Survey results, staffing, food, and establishing a standard agenda format among other things.

Both the the Opening Weekend Program and the new Senior Flames category worked very well, so we will continue these two successful initiatives.

A new addition to our program this summer will be our Afternoon Book Club (ABC). Each day, interested people will read and discuss a book relevant to our church. Rev. Currie has chosen Wilson Van Dusen's Returning to the Source: The Way to the Experience of God....

ED. NOTE: This article got truncated before the FNCA NEWS! Archives existed because of lack of space at the bottom of the page when other articles were added above it so, evidently, there was more.

Fryeburg ME — Saturday, January 22, 2011

The FNCA Board of Directors held its mid-winter meeting at Board member Bob Perry's Elephant Walk restaurant in Waltham MA. The entire Board was present as well as a few guests. Although there was a very full agenda, it was completed before the scheduled time to adjourn.

As is often the case with meetings, there were lots of details large and small to talk about. Some of the major points of discussion and/or decisions reached include:

• It's now official: Camp dates this year are Saturday, July 30 - Sunday, August 14, 2011.
• The 2011 rates will be $1 higher than last year across the board, and the cabin fee will be a flat $10 per cabin instead of a per person rate.
• Work Weekend will once again be held Memorial Day weekend this year, May 28-30. Please contact Buildings & Grounds Committee chair Dave Richardson if you are planning to attend.
• The Assembly is looking for a volunteer cleaning crew of campers willing to come a day or two early to help with the pre-session cleaning of cabins and the Main Building.
• The FNCA Bulletin is scheduled to be mailed out the beginning of May at which time campers should also be able to register online this year.
• To make Whitehead Hall wheelchair accessible, the Building & Grounds Committee will make a removable ramp for the deck entrance for use this summer until a permanent solution is put in place. They will also look into making the first floor bathroom off of the Dole Wing more accessible.
• In response to their request, the (unofficial) FNCA outreach committee was encourage to submit a formal proposal on becoming an official FNCA committee.
• Jesse White's proposal to do a Yankee Candle Co. fundraiser for the Assembly was accepted.

A big THANK YOU to the Board for all their hard work, their dedication, and for their willingness to donate time and energy to our wonderful summer camp. And another big THANK YOU to Bob Perry for hosting the meeting and serving the Board a most delicous lunch!

Fryeburg ME — Monday, May 2, 2011

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!

ATTENTION CAMPERS: Registration for this summer's session of the Fryeburg New Church Assembly is now open! The FNCA bulletin is at the printers and will be mailed out very soon.

If you want to register by mail just fill in and return the registration form in the bulletin or download the appropriate form(s) from the bottom of the How to Register page. Be sure to either include your deposit in the envelope or pay your deposit online.

If you want to register online, we are now taking registrations and deposits online. Just go to the How to Register page and follow the proper links.

Fryeburg ME — Friday, May 27, 2011

IT'S FNCA WORK WEEKEND!

22 people have signed up for the FNCA's Buildings & Grounds Committee's annual Work Weekend, May 27-30, and the first of them have already arrived. Them's that knows claim this is the biggest work crew we've ever had, which is good because there's always plenty of work to be done!

Two big projects this year include putting a metal roof on the Woof Cabin and building a new wall in the Cook's Quarters upstairs in the Main Building creating a hallway allowing for walk-through from the Girls Dorm to the rooms at the other end of the building. Besides increasing access, this will also provide another fire exit from the 2nd floor.

Besides these two projects, there's the usual plumbing and electrical work to be done, cabins to be jacked up, furniture to be moved around, cabin cleaning, tree work, and myriad smaller tasks that all together contribute to keeping the Assembly's buildings and grounds happy, healthy, functional, and in good working order.

Also this weekend, the FNCA registrar will be doing an inventory of sorts of all the cabins and rooms to find out where new beds and mattresses, dressers, and other furniture are needed; and the FNCA webmaster will be doing major updates on the FNCA website.

So a big THANKS in advance to our 22 volunteers and to the Building & Grounds Committee for all the work that will be done over the long Memorial Day Weekend!

By the way, it's not too late to participate: anyone else who would like to attend, please contact Colgate Searle at searleandsearle@cox.net or phone the Assembly at 207-935-2338 just so we know you're coming and can be sure we have enough food for everyone.

Fryeburg ME — Tuesday, May 31, 2011

A LOT OF WORK GOT DONE!

Over Work Weekend, more than 2 dozen volunteers got a mighty lot of work done fixing up the Assembly grounds! Five big projects and a whole bunch of smaller ones got done.

The big projects were: putting a new metal roof on the Woof Cabin, taking down Pop Woof's old tool shed on the front of the Woof Cabin, building a wall upstairs in the cook's quarters creating a hallway and a private room for the cooks, removing a huge tree that came down across the road to the cabins in the woods, and major updates on this website.

The smaller projects included repairing screens all over camp, patching and sweeping the roof over the kitchen, unloading a 500 lb. fireproof filing cabinet for FNCA records, unloading a foosball table for Chalmers Lodge, moving mini fridges around, cabin cleaning, replacing light bulbs, fixing a door, raking, and plumbing repairs among other things.

WOOF CABIN ROOF

WOOF TOOL SHED

Before: After:
© Trevor 2011 © Ian Woofenden 2011

COOK'S QUARTERS WALL

This column This column
from the north from the south

Before:

During:

After:
(It's not done yet so we can't show it to you.)

LOGGING

OTHER PROJECTS:

So a very big THANK YOU to the 2011 FNCA Work Weekend crew: Dave Richardson, Colgate & Cecilia Searle, Ed Schnurr, Dave Keating, Tina & Willis Wood, Myrrh & Joe Brooks, Jason Woofenden, Beki & Jason Greenwood, Merrilee Phinney, Llerena & Josh Enck, Deane Currie, MaryBeth Bernier, Kristina Madjerac, Abbie Reed, Ben Grams, Troy Grams, Ross Grams, Tom Barrett, Ian Woofenden, Gard Perry, Trevor & Nancy Little.

JOB WELL DONE!

South Duxbury MA — Tuesday, July 5, 2011

FREE STUFF FROM BLAIRHAVEN!

With great thanks to the Mass. Association, the FNCA got a couple truckloads of free stuff from Blairhaven before its purchase by the Town of Duxbury this week (who plan on turning it into a town park).

Three weeks ago, a crew (including Rev. Susannah Currie and her brother Andy (Truck Packer Supreme!), Nancy Little, Beki Greenwood, Merrilee Phinney & Martin Vojtko) gathered at Blairhaven and loaded a lot of furniture into a big truck. Rev. Ken & Laurie Turley drove the truck up to camp where a crew from the Fryeburg Church (including Dave Richardson, Dave Keating, and Tom Barrett) unloaded it.

This truckload included: 2 double on the bottom and twin on the top bunkbeds and 6 twin single beds, all with nearly brand new mattresses and box springs; a nearly new refrigerator; outdoor tables and chairs for the porch and deck; an 8' table for the dining hall; lots of commercial-style kitchen equipment including stainless steel mixing bowls, large baking sheets, 2 large cast iron frying pans, and various utensils; as well as fans and lamps and other smaller sundries.

It's worth noting that they saved room in the truck to fit Blairhaven's beautiful upright Steinway piano as a gift to the Turley's, who served as Blairhaven's first resident directors.

Today, a much smaller crew (Trevor & Nancy Little with assists from Herb Zeigler) gathered and filled a much smaller truck with waste baskets, linens, floor lamps, more kitchen stuff, and other smaller things.

So although it is sad for some to say goodbye to Blairhaven, it is nice to know that one of Blairhaven's sister New Church camps will get more mileage out of her estate. So a big thanks goes out to the Mass. Association for sharing, and to all the people who helped make this work.

Fryeburg ME — Tuesday, July 26, 2011

GETTING CAMP READY FOR CAMP

The first of the camp set-up crew arrived today, with more showing up tomorrow. The first food delivery truck got unloaded and packed into the walk-in fridge and the dry goods shelves today.

Other tasks that will get done over the next few days before camp starts include: distributing and putting © Trevor 2011 together all the new beds we got from Blairhaven; washing all the dishes and flatware in the pantry; incorporating all the new linens we got from Blairhaven into the Mouse Closet; weeding, sorting, and labeling the Dole Wing book collection; cleaning all the cabins and the Main Building; cleaning all the public © Trevor 2011 bathrooms; getting the kitchen ready; hauling out and setting up all the porch & deck chairs; last minute plumbing repairs; tuning the pianos; packing wood under the porch; putting in the waterfront dock and ramp, and a whole passal of smaller chores that tend to surface as the crew works its way around the FNCA grounds.

Special thanks to Dave Richardson Sr., Lee Dyer, Jason & Beki Greenwood, Elise & Erin Richardson, Trevor & Nancy Little, Gard Perry, Robitaille's Piano Service, Dan and Josh Cook, Kristina and Rachel Madjerac, Miriam Lexie, Jason Woofenden, and Troy Grams for all their help.

Fryeburg ME — Saturday, August 6, 2011

FNCA 2011 ANNUAL MEETING
& BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

Members and friends of the Assembly gathered in Whitehead Hall at 1:30 today to conduct the Assembly's business at the FNCA's 2011 Annual Meeting. Minutes were read, reports were given, elections were held, but the biggest news is that our beloved camp director of many years, Debbie Cook, is stepping down.

Debbie's cheerful and loving demeanor has led our © Trevor 2011summer camp out of tough times and into a period of growth and joyfulness. Her caring manner has shepherded us along safe paths, and her unerring sense of goodness has helped steer us around innumerable stumbling blocks. For her years of excellent service, Debbie received not one, but two standing ovations today!

Introducing our new camp director: Jason Greenwood.© Trevor 2011 Jason is the husband of Beki (Phinney) Greenwood and has been serving camp for several years in various capacities including Flames Advisor, Flames Representative, Outreach Committee member, Summer Session Committee member, Board of Directors member, and the camp's resident E.M.T. and health officer... most of these all at the same time!

The three outgoing Trustees were all re-elected, so there is no change in the members of the Board of Directors. However, never one to shirk work, outgoing camp director Debbie Cook couldn't stop herself from volunteering to be the Board's new secretary taking over those duties from Jesse White, who ably served in that capacity for a good five years. (Thanks, Jesse!) (Thanks, Debbie, too!)

We heard reports from treasurer, Bob Perry; the chair of the Buildings & Grounds Committee, Dave Richardson; outgoing camp director, Debbie Cook; camp registrar, Nancy Little; Religious Program Coordinator, Susannah Currie; and the chair of the Nominating Committee, Martha Richardson.

The Board of Directors met briefly before the Annual Meeting to take care of some essentials like voting in new Assembly members (so they could vote at the meeting), updating the meeting agenda, etc.

After the Annual Meeting, the Board re-convened to discuss/act on the happenings of the Annual Meeting, as well as to take care of other, less pressing business including: electing officers, filling all Board-appointed positions, other standard Directors' agenda items, and other business old and new.

One new order of business for the Board was establishing the FNCA Outreach Committee as an official committee of the Assembly. Up until now, this group has been operating as an unofficial committee of volunteers. Under the new setup, 7 official voting members appointed by the Board to staggered 4-year terms make up the core of this committee. Everyone else interested in helping with FNCA outreach is welcome to participate as much or as little as they want at their own discretion as non-voting Outreach Committee members.

The members of the FNCA Outreach Committee are the people who bring you the camp bulletin, website, Facebook pages, Messenger articles, and the brand new free-standing portable FNCA display (that some of you may have seen at Convention), among other things. By the way, the Outreach Committee is actively seeking members from any of our various local churches across the continent who may be interested in hosting the FNCA display at their local church for a month or two during the next year.

Other Board agenda items included a more active Fundraising Committee; ongoing, systematic replacing of aging roofs; complete replacement of our out-of-date fire alarm system; accessibility of our bylaws; setting up an online spreadsheet to keep track of donations to the Assembly and establishing a built-in system that ensures all the donors get proper thank you letters; as well as other details too numerous to mention.

_______________________________________________

Newtonville MA — October 2011

FNCA Article in the October Messenger

© Trevor 2008Jim Lowe, a newly appointed member of the brand new official FNCA Outreach Committee, has a very nice article about his and his lovely wife Betty's nearly two decade experience at the Assembly in the October issue of the Messenger.

In his article, titled "From Long Island to Fryeburg Maine", Jim describes their involvement with the good old FNCA from their initial inspiration by Adrienne Frank (after whom Frank Hall is named) at the New York New Church 18 years ago to the present day.

His delightful descriptions of daily life at camp are both encompassing and from a noticeably different perspective than most recent Messenger articles about our beloved camp.

Thanks, Jim, for a great article!

P.S. Monthly issues of the Messenger can be downloaded for free here: <http://www.swedenborg.org/library/collateralliterature/libraryperiodicals/messenger.aspx>

If you would like to receive the Messenger in the mail (free to members of Convention), send your name and mailing address to:

the Messenger
Central Office
11 Highland Ave
Newtonville MA 02460
OR
manager@swedenborg.org
OR
call 617-969-4240.

_______________________________________________

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