Americorps, Swimming, and Winter

Last Sunday a team of nine Americorps NCCC volunteers stationed in Denver arrived at Ferncliff.  Water 7 is their team name.  NCCC is the Americorps branch for the National Civil Community Corps.  They will stay here and several other places all across their region for 6 weeks at each place.  They have certian hour requirements here at Ferncliff, and a certain number of required hours outside of this project.

They are our new friends: Billy, Michael, Jocelyn, Kindra, Steven, Luke, Kevin, Sasha, Josh, and Jessica. Their main project is demolishing the old swimming pool.  It has some beautiful artwork which I hate to see go.  One of the dining hall staff was chatting with me about that.  She's been here for 19 years. Camp used to have the kids swim in the lake and use the old cabins with no air conditioning.  Now they have air conditioned cabins which they don't even carry their trunks to, and they swim in a new swimming pool with a splash pad, beach entry and water umbrella.  The old pool is becoming the site of a new dining hall more centrally located so guests don't have to walk as far to eat.  This lady told the same words of progress I heard from camp executive staff in a tone of an older lady wondering why the world has changed so much.  Camp staff is proud of the growth, and she wondered "what's wrong with swimming in the lake, and cabins without air conditioning, isn't that what camp is?"  I could empathize with her.

Back at Nature Camp we don't have air conditioning, we swim in the creek, we don't use computers, we don't even use electric pencil sharpeners.   We once had camp for a week without electricity after a wind storm.  Electricity only powers lights, the refrigerator, fans, and hot water.  Where do you find the sweet spot at camp? How do you equally balance the preferences of a changing generation, modern practicality, and experiencing the natural world? Everyone has their opinions. I think Ferncliff has a relatively good balance here.  

This year we're constantly thinking about what camps should be as a ministry of the church.  Everyone's got opinions.  I think the new pool is a little bit closer to Disney world than camp, but they've got a straw bale building, goats, chickens, tree houses, a labyrinth and a stone chapel to bring visitors and campers quickly back to the center of what's importan. They span the whole gambit from rustic to awesome adventure to fancy-modern.  To Ferncliff's credit the air conditioned cabins use a "Geothermal" HVAC unit which uses the lake water as the heat sink, so it is more efficient than a typical air conditioned cabin.

Americorps is using most of the wood from the pool house to become a storage barn on the other side of camp.  They'll start building it this week.  And part of the old pool foundation will become foundation for the new dining hall. They re-use as much building material as possible.

The old pool and pool house as it stands Nov. 17 halfway deomolished by the Americorps team

Ferncliff's new pool.  Photo from Ferncliff Facebook

Americorps Water 7 has also been helping us YAVs with some work.  I had a handful of Americorps people helping me winterize the Eco Center. We had our first frost the first week of November so I got the woodstove going but the summer ventelation system was still working to cool the building.

The building is cooled by a solar chimney made of two large black pipes on the roof.  The black metal heats in the sun causing the air inside to warm, become less dense, and rise.  As it rises it draws air from the building and creates a draft.  The idea is that enough air flow inside can keep the humidity down.  The thick straw bale walls can keep the heat out and that is how it stays cool.  The major design flaw is that the humidity stays high on cloudy days inside.  Even though it may be 78 inside on a 95 degree day, high humidity inside can make that 78 unbearable to sit through.  We're working on it, but I'm glad camp just tried it and we're going from there.

Eco Center Photos property of Ferncliff Camp Copyright 2013

So during our cold nights hot air from the building was escaping out the solar chimney and keeping the building at 55 or cooler in the wee hours of the morning.  We had a group staying there in a few days so I had to fix this.  No matter how Eco-friendly the group is I doubt they want to wake up in a drafty 55 degrees when they are paying for it.

Some Americorps volunteers helped me caulk some cracks, block the cieling vents, and spray-foam-insulate cracks around pipes.  I discovered it takes a little bit of work to get other people to do your work for you.  Most of these Americorps kids are 18 and just out of high school so they don't have as much hands on experience as I.  Don't get me wrong I'm pretty useless, I got plenty of good ideas and I know how things work but I can't do all that much on my own with tools.  Out of the five they sent me, none of us, even I had more than a day's experience with caulking, so we accidently destroyed two bottles before we realized you need to punch a hole in the foil inside the front to let it come out.  We also learned don't sniff it or don't get it on your hands.  Luke and I had similar debacles with the spray foam.  It was very fun, a little messy, and minimally stressful.

I got a few people blocking ceiling vents with cardboard.  I gave them what I thought was good instructions, and the necessary tools and left to run an errand. I came back 20 minutes later and they were in the same place I left them.  They were still figuring out how to best get the vents back on.  They were slow and deliberate, and they got it done, but it surprised me how long it took. It gave me insight into what my supervisors might feel when they leave me alone on a task and I get stuck and make less progress than they thought.  This is pretty much every day for me.  It gave me insight into the frustration Don felt when I was doing mudding and sanding in NYC with PDA and he'd come back and I'm still sanding the same section of wall he saw me sanding the last time he was there.

Lets face it volunteers have heart but maybe not the hand skills to get everything done.  The people with the skills are out there using their skills making money, and they cost money so non-profits might settle for volunteers.  So if you are a skilled professional you would be the envy of volunteers, and a much needed volunteer.  I'm realizing a big part of this volunteer world is doing what we can together, and getting the right leadership to get these tasks done without professional help.

This is my volunteer contribution so far:  It took me a week to weld a weather station pole together, five weeks to make signs for features of the Eco Center, four weeks to plan out a landscape project, three weeks to vacuum rice hulls and weevils, three days to connect one solar panel to the golf cart and two hours to clean just four golf cart batteries.  I gained some great experiences and fun stories along the way.  But someone who knew what they were doing could do all that in a day or two.  The learning and the stories are what makes this experience what it is.

So whatever you are doing on your own, for your supervisors, or for those you supervise. Do it well, learn something, teach something, tell a story, and make a story.  I'd love to hear it.  Thanks for the stories Americorps Water 7!