30 Minute Music Hour

Manito-wishers do amazing things. A few weeks ago past staffer, musician, and English teacher Erik Brandt (known to many as Linus) appeared on current Family Camp staff member Andy Moore's show - The 30 Minute Music Hour on Wisconsin Public Television.

Be sure to check out Andy's show as well as Linus's upcoming new album. The show is streaming online now and will air on WPT in January.

http://www.wpt.org/wisconsinchannel/30MMH128_urban_hillbilly.cfm

Midwest Mountaineering

Matt Leibfried and Jay Creagh spent three days at the Midwest Mountaineering Winter Expo. It was great seeing former staff, current staff and campers. Thank you Lindberg's for the cookies, Welter's for the dinner and Happy Birthday Herkert.

Anna Schrage(Former Camper and Staff Member(1999-2000) sitting at the Sierra Club Booth


Matt with Play it Forward. Play it Forward is a great organization that combines adventure travel and service projects. Check out www.pifadventures.com for more info.

Jay urging all to come to Manito-wish!

Staff Board Reps - Report on the November Board Meeting

From Sarah Judkins and Katie Lindahl:

Hello Fellow Staff! On November 8th, Anna Ficken, Sarah Judkins, and Katie Lindahl attended the Fall Board of Directors Meeting representing your voice. Now we would like to report back to you about what we discussed and your concerns that we shared.

The meeting focused on governance as the Board restructures itself to better serve Camp. A main structural change includes the consolidation of the Leadership, Summer Camp, and Tripping Committees into one Program Group that will focus on the integration of the three components and the model that camp stands strong on all three of those pillars. Other discussion was on the role of the board and its place in governance versus management.

A Tripping Ad Hoc Committee is currently being formed. This committee, chartered by Jay Creagh and chaired by Jon Helminiak (you may have paddled his canoe), will make sure that we will continue to be able to send out quality trips. The committee will look at the availability of land not only in the Northwoods, but in all of camp’s tripping areas and the other challenges that our tripping program may face in the future.

We continue to raise the concern of ‘going green’ to the board and have had positive feedback from many board members. We would love to see it be incorporated into the upcoming Strategic Plan/Vision for Camp.

Also of interest: The Property Committee reported that the heating and ventilation in Schwartz is being redesigned to function properly and camp is now waiting for bids. The Nash kitchen renovation is contracted to be done by May 1st, but is expected to be done much earlier. Other news reported is that 47 campers have signed up for the four-week summer camp session, while we had only budgeted for an expected 36!

Lastly, congratulations to Sam Kruckenberg for being selected as the incoming Board Representative. We look forward to working with Sam over the next year! Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns at any time. Anyone can request a copy of the minutes from Anne Derber…just send her an email.

Best,
Sarah (sarah.c.judkins [at] gmail.com) and Katie (krlindahl [at] u.northwestern.edu)

This week on the road - Milwaukee and Minneapolis

On Monday, November 17th Drew and Brandt will be hosting a Open House & Information Night in Milwaukee at 6:30 - 8:00pm at the St. Sebastian Church & School. Please stop on in and join us! Click here for directions.

On Friday - Sunday, November 21-23rd Jay and Matt will have a booth at the Outdoor Adventure Expo in Minneapolis hosted by Midwest Mountaineering. Be sure to stop in to say hi to the guys and support this local event!

We will be out on the road a lot this winter! Please stop in and see us, send your friends by, or families you know that may be interested in Camp. If you want us to come to your town just contact us and we will see what we can do!

Staff Board Representatives

Congratulations to Sam Kruckenberg for being selected to be our next Seasonal Staff Board Representative. And a big thank you to Dana Roberts and Anna Ficken for there service and dedication to our organization as their terms end.

Kruckenberg will be taking on a two year term as a voting member on the Board of Directors, and taking the seats of Roberts and Ficken whose two year terms have just ended. They will be joining Sarah Judkins and Katie Lindahl whose terms expire in November of 2009.

The main purpose of the Seasonal Staff Board Representative is to serve as a conduit between the Board and Seasonal Staff. The Board looks to them to hear what the seasonal staff are saying, and vice versa, they are also a voice of the board to you our staff.

Ben Creagh - Outpost Director / Staff Recruiting Coodinator

We are happy to announce that Ben Creagh will be joining us as Outpost Director / Staff Recruiting Coordinator in January. Ben was one of several applicants for the Staff Recruiting Coordinator position for this winter. He will be joining Matt Leibfried as well as the rest of the Program Team in helping us run winter programming as well as prepare for summer programming.

Ben will be joining us after finishing a year of teaching in Santiago, Chile.

Open House & Information Night

Drew and Jay hosted an Open House & Information Night at the Aldo Leopold Center, in Madison, WI on Thursday November 6th. New prospects, past campers, staff, and alum came for the event. Some campers even signed up for camp for the first time at the event!

On Monday, November 17th Drew and Brandt will be hosting a Open House & Information Night in Milwaukee at 6:30 - 8:00pm at the St. Sebastian Church & School. Please stop on in and join us! Click here for directions.

Camper Calling NIght

Over 370 20o8 Summer Camp campers were called on Wednesday night to see what they were thinking for 2009. QTI Group of Madison, WI lent camp staff and volunteers office space for the evening. Jay, Drew, Gami, and Brandt were joined by Mallory Agard, Anna Ficken, Reed Hollett, Augusta Prehn, Ryan Wagner, Tracey Meyer, and Elisabeth Montemurro for the event. A special thanks to our volunteers for their help, it wouldn't have been as successful without you.

As of today 274 campers are signed upfor Summer Camp, and 80 campers are signed up for Outpost. If you know any undecided campers out there, help get them signed up! Camperships and payment plans are available.