Hey everyone! ACC-Build America Correspondent Nick
Julian reporting to you from our newest camp this week, Camp Easter
Seals/UCP in New Castle, Virginia! Today we began work on our various projects,
but before I give you a peek into what we have been doing today, here is a recap on the
fourth week of the Build America Trip!
We began our fourth week at Camp Fairlee Manor in Chestertown,
Maryland. Camp Fairlee Manor was our first camp that was being revisited by a
Push America Team and the second camp run by the organization Easter Seals.
Easter Seals is a national organization that has been helping people with
disabilities for nearly a century. While they offer a variety of services for
people who are differently abled, they are perhaps most recognized for their
summer camps serving people with disabilities.
The first day began with a quick tour of the facilities and
unpacking into the cabins that they were looking to demolish in a months time
to make room for a new air conditioned cabin. The cabin was in decent condition
for our stay,...minus working showers. However, we had no need to fear as there
were some awesome spacious showers in the shower house on the campus grounds!
Our projects this week were: clearing a nature trail and building a cabin to be
used for at-risk youth living in Maryland's inner cities. The cabin is part of
a camp experience that Ms. Sally Price, the camp director, and Camp Fairlee
Manor are hoping to incorporate into their programming, in the coming years, to
allow inner city kids the chance to explore nature and escape from their urban
jungle.
After the tour of the rather large campus, and after viewing the
work sites, we had dinner with the campers and counselors. We were quickly
encouraged to participate in the camp songs and the daily rituals of the camp
experience. The counselors enthusiasm for their work was infectious and gave
us the energy to participate even after a long day of work.
Despite just having two projects this week, the work was intense,
long, and thanks to the humidity, uncomfortable. Those however seem to be the
best conditions for our work anyway. I was on the trail team helping to clear
the overgrown shrubbery and plants. It was hard labor, but was incredibly
gratifying to see the progress as one was working. Additionally, since we had
cleared the first trail so quickly, in the following days, we made two more
trails for the Camp.
The cabin team had a great deal of layout to complete on the
first day, but after hashing out a plan, they were quick at work in the
succeeding days setting posts, making a rim joist and using joist hangers for
the joists that would support the floor of the cabin. Thanks to Stanley,
DeWALT, and Milwaukee Tools, this project went by with relative ease, despite
an early miscommunication in the construction of one of the walls. A special
thanks to the Concord Carpenter team for helping us with one of the keys to
this event, becoming an exemplary problem solvers.
We all loved Camp Fairlee and we even use some of their camp songs
to this day, because they were so catchy!
After leaving the incredible people at Camp Fairlee Manor, we
headed into our nation(TM)s capital, Washington, DC! There we made all of the best
touristy spots: the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Memorial, World War 2
Memorial, and even made a stop at the White House. There were a couple of
highlights, however. Thanks to the staff in the Office of Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, the Build America team was able to visit the
Chamber of the House of Representatives and get a full tour of the Capitol
Building.
The second highlight was going to a Washington Nationals game with
some Pi Kappa Phi Brothers who were Pi Alpha members (Brothers who completed a
summer Push America event) and who held a leadership position in the
fraternity. The Nats were playing the Milwaukee Brewers and we wanted to wear
our cool Milwaukee tool shirts, but that night, we were all Nats fans.
Despite this minor setback, we still love our tool sponsors and
everyone on the team has been Tweeting and Facebooking them as soon as we can
manage, so please check out their social media pages and follow them on Twitter
and Facebook!
This past weekend was also a great time because we met a Build
America team member from the inaugural event, Mike Utrell. Thanks to his
support, we slept at Abiding Presence Lutheran Church in Burke, VA in
air-conditioned rooms (this is incredibly important for us), gave us amazing
home-cooked food, and we were even able to attend a church service in appreciation
of the incredible hospitality of all of the congregation. Hearing Mikes
experience on the trip, how it gave him his wife, and how to this day he still
keeps in contact with one of his fellow BAMers gives us hope that the
friendships and experience we make today will last for a long time.
We also
attended a triathlon event with a mile hike, six-mile bike ride and then a
canoe ride. This event was held in cooperation with World Team Sports and was
held for kids who are differently abled. The whole Build America team had a
blast riding tandem bikes and canoeing but of course the most rewarding part,
was helping the participants and watching them gain confidence on the race
course.
So that is all for now. All is well in Camp Easter Seals/UCP
despite the lack of phone service, but the campus is beautifully framed by the
local mountain ranges. I will talk to you next week when we will be heading to
Charlotte, North Carolina!
If you are interested in helping me or the Build America team,
you can make a tax-deductible donation on my fundraising page at
www.nickbam.com or you
can learn more about Push America and our Build America team by visiting
www.pushamerica.org.
Carpenter's Tip
