Presbytery of Coastal Carolina - Camp Kirkwood Summer Programs

Well I haven’t sat down and written anything about Kirkwood recently so I decided that I needed to provide an update on their summer activities. This is one of those stories that starts out “Well there is good news and there is bad news! What do you want first?” Let’s start out with the good news. The Wilmington “Y” is there every week day offering day camps to about 70 kids from the Wilmington area. We have had two groups in using the camp – Northside Baptist from Wilmington and Wake Forest Presbyterian Church from of all places Wake Forest. Several groups have used the camp during weekends for birthday parties and for family reunions so the camps are getting the traffic that we expected. The “Y” would love to have more campers (had projected 150 each week) involved in their programs so please don’t hesitate to contact them at (910) 251-9622 ext.400. Jerome, Brandon and Tom, a volunteer from the Burgaw area, have done a great job getting the camp ready for all the groups spending time in God’s creation.

Well now for some news on the downside! We’ve run into an infrastructure problem this year. The 50+ year old water system composed of iron pipe is springing leaks on a regular basis – four leaks in as many weeks. Unfortunately we don’t have a map showing where the pipes are so when we see water bubbling out of the ground we can safely assume that it is a broken pipe and not a new spring working its way to the surface. Most pipes are about four feet deep so staff is spending a considerable amount of time digging, replacing pipes, filling holes and flushing the water system. My personal view is that the whole system needs to be replaced no later than this fall.

The pool has also had some problems. This past weekend the motor on the pump malfunctioned so the pool was out of service throughout most of holiday period. Speaking of Northside Baptist, over 40 kids of the 140+ group at camp got sick resulting in a visit by the Pender County Health Department along with a group of nurses from the hospital. Jerome had just the kitchen inspected and receive an “A” grade so we were pretty sure that food was not a problem. The pool met standards so we didn’t see any issue there so all we were concerned about was the water which takes several days to check – results came back negative on Tuesday of the following week so we were in the clear. After a lot of data collection (old fashioned epidemiology) it was determined that a sick child came to camp on Monday and spread his illness around. As a result, Northside had to end their week at camp earlier than planned.

There is one other event that I want to let you know about. Several weeks ago we found a newly purchased deer stand up in one of the trees out by the “Cliffs.” Jerome had heard a few shots coming from that direction so he called the Sheriff’s Department who came out and told us that they really couldn’t do anything unless we knew who the perpetrator was. We took down the deer stand and stored it away so when this individual comes to claim it we will have a Sheriff’s deputy there to meet him/her. So far no one has made a claim!!

Well I started this Blog at least a week ago and am finally getting around to finishing it today (July 15th). As far as I know we haven’t had any new water leaks but the day is still young. The “Y” summer camp program seems to be picking up and Jerome has been really hard at work trying to keep everything cleaned up. Unfortunately I had to terminate two of his support staff last week – we simply ran out of budget dollars. That means that Jerome is on his own when it comes to mowing grass, fixing the plumbing, cleaning the cabins and doing all the other chores that come with being at camp. Sorry no pictures this week! A group is going out to Kirkwood on Thursday so I’ll make sure I take some shots of the lake, the pool, “Y” kids cavorting in from of the Dining Hall, etc.

Till next week,

Bob