Camp Wa Wa Segowea: Just what is a Work Weekend at Camp Wa Wa Segowea?

We'll be having our first work weekend this weekend, April 30th and May 1st and we'd love to have you attend! If you can't make this one, there's one in May (21-22nd) and another in June (18-19th). You can always check out the Camp calendar at the end of every blog post for dates.

Just what is a work weekend?

Work Weekends have been happening at Camp Segowea in some form or fashion for as long as the camp has been around. Friends of Segowea come up and pitch in whether it's a major project, a few minor jobs or even just general cleanup. The weekend could consist of moving things around; (boats, beds, tables, etc.) and then cleaning or any number of different jobs.

Back a few years ago, the weekend actually meant the whole weekend! Volunteers arrived on Friday night and stayed until Sunday night. Beds were arranged in the dining hall with a fire always going in the fireplace to keep warm. Meals were served and then later in the evening, many card games were played! (Hearts was a favorite back then) Many larger projects kept everyone busy. There were jobs like building Mt. Beacon, or renovating the Directors or Program Directors cabin. There were even specific jobs to do every spring and fall- Putting the shutters up and bringing in the docks in the fall and just the opposite in the spring. It was a chance to spend some time at camp, accomplish quite a bit, and enjoy the camaraderie of working together.

These days it's the names and faces that have changed, but generally the same work gets done. We're not building Mt Beacon again, but we're still renovating buildings, moving things around and enjoying the camaraderie. With everyone's busy schedules these days, a full weekend is hard to ask of someone, so even though we call it a work weekend, it's more of a "work day" or even a few work hours! The more people we have, the more gets done, and there's always something to do! The Property Director, Norm has broken it down even further-

Work weekend reservations required. Email or call Property Director Norm Button, at nbutton@cdymca.org or 413-229-9910. We start work projects at 9 am with three 2 ½ hour work sessions starting Saturday 9 am, Saturday 1 pm, Sunday 9 am. Overnight lodging available. Bring your own food. Complementary Saturday dinner for all participants at 6 pm. Work projects include landscaping, raking, cleaning, painting, trail and boat maintenance, wood and brush cutting, carpentry, plumbing, and electrical work.

So we would encourage you to see if you have a few hours, a day or even a whole weekend, to participate in our camp work weekends. If you can't make any of the scheduled dates and would still like to help out, please give Norm a call or email. I'm sure he'd be happy to hear from you, especially if you have those carpentry, plumbing or electrical skills! Hope to see you out there.

If you have favorite/memorable work weekend stories, please post them in the comments, We'd love to hear them!

Here's some pictures of work getting done on the work weekends through the years.

Working on the dock.