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FNCA NEWS!
2016
Waltham MA - 1/9/16
FNCA Mid-Winter Board Meeting
The FNCA Board of Trustees held their annual mid-winter meeting at Studio Crossings in Waltham MA today. In physical attendance were Colgate Searle, Ben Grams, Bob Perry, Beki & Jason Greenwood, Emily Woofenden, Jesse White, and Trevor. Skyping in were Debbie Cook from Pennsylvania and Dan Dyer, Jon Crowe, Dave Richardson, and Flames representative Liz Dyer from Maine. Absent was Rev. Susannah Currie.
© Beki Greenwood 2016In the absence of Rev. Currie, Trevor offered the invocation to open the meeting. Then the previous meeting's minutes were acccepted, and all that jazz that you have to do at the beginning of the meeting.
Bob Perry offered his treasurer's report, with the Board discussing two aspects of it: 1. the discrepancy between "camper days" (the total number of campers housed each night all added together) and the number of meals served due to unregistered visitors sharing meals with us but not spending the night, and 2. investment of some or all of the two large donations we received last year.
There were also reports on and/or discussions about:
1. scholarships
2. purchasing waterfront equipment
3. the Dole 3 Miler
4. facility rentals
5. the Outreach Committee
6. creating a Youth Coordinator position
7. membership list and collecting dues
8. doing email outreach during the year using an email contact program like MailChimp
9. fundraising ideas
10. lecture themes will be "Uses" and "The Teachings of Jesus", with which theme which week to be determined later
11. the Rev. Everett K. Bray Visiting Lecturer
12. Opening Weekend Program
13. a new volunteer to record lectures
14. the rates this year will be the same as last year
15 filling the void created by discontinuing the bulletin
16. the Building & Grounds Committee's To Do List
17. restoring the Whitehead Hall piano
18. the future work that's going to be done on Rte. 302 starting in 2017 or 2018 and how it will effect our property
19. the property next door that is for sale
20. Work Weekend.
All in all, it was an easy-flowing, productive meeting with smiles and laughter along with the serious discussions and decisions.
Fryeburg ME - 6/1/16
A Very Successful Work Weekend 2016
May 28th-30th saw 25 adult campers at the Assembly hammering, sawing, constructing, deconstructing, shoveling, tamping, roofing, plumbing, digging, filling, raking, sweeping, cleaning, tossing, replacing, piling, levelling, sorting, scanning, and cataloging, among other things.
With Building & Grounds Committee members Dave Richardson and Colgate Searle leading the big projects, and B&G member Nancy Little in charge of the rest of the To Do List and meals, everything ran smooth as toast for the entire weekend.
The bigger projects included: finishing up the final work on 
© Trevor 2016the new foundation of the Pump House; putting new metal roofs on the Taft Cabin and the Claxton Cabin; putting a new, wider, Americans with Disabilities Act
© Trevor 2016 compliant door on the Dole Wing bathroom; adding and tamping down a dumptruckful of gravel to the lead-up to the handicapped ramp on Twitchell South to accomodate a 500 lb high-tech wheelchair; putting two new runoff pipes under the road next to the Goddard Annex in preparation for the new gutters that will be arriving soon; and replacing the water heater in the Laird Cabin. (The links above show the completed work.)
Smaller projects included: replacing the window ropes in the Girls Dorm; fixing leaky faucets and/or showers in Taft, Woof, and Bray South; filling several holes in the loop road and grading the edge of the entrance to camp from Rte 302; putting a new bed in Room 2 in the Perry Wing; cleaning and arranging the Goddard Annex play 
© Trevor 2016room; putting a "wheelchair wedge" at the base of the front door from the porch into the Dining Hall; raking the leaves and pine needles away from cabins; cleaning cabins and the bedrooms in the Main Building; completely cleaning out the walk-in fridge in the Kitchen; cutting a tree that had fallen in the river at the waterfront; painting porch railings; repairing fascia boards on the Claxton cabin; and a host of smaller stuff.
The Camp Historian and his able helper, Michelle Velazquez, spent their time beginning a catalog of our old camp files and records. This will eventually became a searchable database. The camp historian also spent many, many hours going through meeting minutes of the "Women's Auxiliary of the Fryeburg New-Church Assembly" dating continuously from 1935-1975, as well as reading extensive correspondence on file dating back to 1912! These 1912 pieces were the original letters between Rev. John Whitehead, Walter A. Robinson, Rev. Baman Stone, and Rev. Herbert Small about starting the FNCA. There will be a report about this project as an Evening Activity during the second week of camp this summer. In the meantime, be sure to check out the brand-new FNCA Time Line which is now in the FNCA History menu.
Everyone at Work Weekend enjoyed the excellent meals, thanks to the planning, prep work, and able leadership of Nancy Little and her crew.
And with all that, there was still plenty of time in the evenings for socializing, various games and entertainments, and both serious and silly conversation among friends old and new.
A great big THANK YOU goes out to everyone who attended Work Weekend 2016! Thanks for your hard work, comaraderie, and cheerful participation in this very important event that saves us thousands and thousands of dollars every year.
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