Hey Mick... Camp Tekawitha having Open House this afternoon

[Darrell KSR]

I've been back once since Andrew's Eagle Scout project (soon afterward) and my wife and I are going back this afternoon. Andrew has been there all day today. Bishop Baker is going to bless the camp at 4:30.

Here is a little notice from One Voice. It referenced the camp being reopened in 2010. Andrew's project (and Don Schwarzhoff's vision at the Diocese, and request that he adopt building an outdoor Chapel as his project to reopen the camp), was the catalyst for reopening it.

I will never forget June 11th, 2010, which was my 50th birthday. Being out at the camp, helping to construct the Chapel as poorly as I do things like that, driving a rental pickup truck filled with 3000 lb of concrete into the lake, not once, but twice, and watching 16 and 17 year old kids out work me was inspiring. (And thanks to all the strong-bodied youth for pushing me out of the lake).

Your support of Andrew's project was, and remains, greatly appreciated. There were a lot of people that supported him to make it a success, and while I'm sure it would have been reopened anyway, in my mind, this is going to benefit thousands of kids for many years to come.

The camp now has an indoor Chapel, bunkhouses, meeting rooms, swimming pool, and a whole host of other things that I'm looking forward to seeing.

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[Darrell KSR]

A few pics...


Bishop Baker blessed all six of the new bunkhouses, along with the Rivers Pavillion (named after Phillip Rivers, who donated $75,000 to build it, or as a contribution toward it). After everyone had left, we hung around with Andrew and walked down to his old Eagle Scout Project, and Bishop Baker rode up in a golf cart driven by Don Schwarzhoff. He got out, and asked Andrew if the outdoor chapel was his Eagle Scout project. He said he wanted to bless it, too, so he did that after everyone had left. Very cool. Thanked him for his work and contributions to the Camp.

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There's Andrew sitting on one of the pews. Has stood up to the test of time, eight years now and counting, and none the worse for wear. They got a fresh coat of paint on them a few weeks ago from another Scout group.



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Without Andrew.

It was SO hot that weekend. I also weighed like 25 pounds more than I do now, possibly the worst shape of my life. What this doesn't show is how many weeks went into building this thing. Not only do you have the chapel, but it was in the middle of the woods, with very little "clearing." So many weekends there were volunteers--even my wife--to go out with machetes, weedeaters, hatchets, and whatever to clear it.

When the area was finally cleared sufficient to allow building it, we had the best rental auger tools you could get, generously donated by someone (there were a lot of people to thank). Anyway, for two hours, there were teams of adults and "grown" kids manning that thing trying to dig holes, and were met with nothing but solid rock, and we were laboring with the sun bearing down on us, with no shade. Andrew and the Scout leader called a timeout, and had everyone sit, and while we were sitting, looking at the lake, it hit us.

"Why not try closer to the lake?"

It created a natural amphitheatre type of atmosphere, where everyone could see on the gentle slope, it gave a terrific view of the beautiful lake in the background, and the biggest plus of all, was that there were tall trees on either side, putting the entire thing in shade.

In shade.

We moved operations down about 30 feet closer to the lake, beginning on the slope, and things went smoothly from there. It was as if we were being sent a message :).



There's the Lake. I'm not going to show you the exact pics we had June 11-13, 2010 where I drove a pickup truck into the lake--not once, but twice--filled with 3,000 pounds of concrete in the bed, but that's the lake I drove it into.

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[MickintheHam]

Sorry, I just saw your post

[Darrell KSR]

There's one of the six new bunkhouses. The bunkhouse beds, which were incredibly well-done, were all built by Comunita Cenacolo of Hanceville, which are former addicts. The constructed all of it in Hanceville, then transported it there, and installed each one of them. The work was magnificent.


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In addition to the bunks, the former addicts also constructed all of the pews on the indoor chapel. It's just beautiful. Outside the windows you can see the lake, and the outdoor chapel to its right.

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There's the lodge (not Eagle Scout/volunteer built, but really amazing).

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Upstairs chapel in the Lodge, available for small groups.


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[Darrell KSR]

Sorry, I just saw your post

No biggie...was just letting you know I was going to take a look.

I chatted with an older gentleman who was responsible for the "old" Camp Tekakwitha, or at least, some aspects of it. He was telling me about how they used to have scouts there during the week, then drain the pool every Sunday and refill it. He said it wasted a lot of water, and was cold, so he developed a system to recirculate the water on bottom, recycling it and making it warmer.

He said he was devastated when it closed in the 80's. He said it occurred when Birmingham was between Bishops, and at least according to him, was a terrible move. It remained closed for years, and in 2010, there was literally nothing there, other than remnants of old buildings here and there, a tree growing in the middle of the old swimming pool, and woods. Literally, that was it. A lot has occurred in those 8 years.

[Darrell KSR]

They still have some of the "old" there at the camp. And some of the bricks from older, dilapidated buildings were used in the new construction before they removed it.

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There's a cross on the other side of the lake if you peer real hard on this pic just right of middle (and/or blow up the screen). They have some solar lights on it, where it will glow at night. They aren't high-powered lights, but with no light in the middle of nowhere, they don't need to be.


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Swimming pool was a great adventure for the kids today.

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[Darrell KSR]

My wife has more pics, but that's a taste. I didn't get a pic of the Rivers Pavilion. The bunkhouses are located opposite a mostly vacant field. It now has 3 tiny primitive cabins that are probably not used by anybody, but available if anyone was tent camping or primitive camping in the vacant field and the weather turned. The vacant field is where we spent the weekend of June 11-13, 2010 working on/finishing the project.

[MickintheHam]

Fascinating story, Darrell. The Woodcrafters in Hanceville do remarkable. My daughter has a dining table they made.

[Darrell KSR]

Fascinating story, Darrell. The Woodcrafters in Hanceville do remarkable. My daughter has a dining table they made.I'm jealous. The workmanship was incredible.