First Capital Workcamp
Steering Committee Meeting
October 7, 2007

Persons present: Mike Bentzel, Wanda Bentzel, Steve Besecker, Sue Besecker, Austin Chinault, Chip Hoover, Darlene Hoover, Sally Kern, Steve Kern, Doris Loucks, Les Loucks, Jim Shipman, Sandy Shipman, Dennis Weidler, Jean Weidler

Austin led us in prayers of encouragement for each other.

We previewed a new DVD from Group about Group workcamps and Week of Hope camps. Both pieces are available in short and longer versions. This DVD could be copied to be used in presentations by our members.

Fund Raising:
Our current balance stands at $14,390.32.
We have received a commitment letter for $1,000 from the North York Rotary. The East York Rotary has declined support. Diane will follow up with Downtown Rotary early in 2008,
Austin has not received a reply from Tom Wolf through e-mail. He will contact Jan Herrold about a more personal approach.
Steve has some concerns about using The Lumber Yard for all materials, as they have moved to Emigsville, and have shortened their hours. We may need to use Lowe’s for materials during the week of camp. Our representative from Group will work this out.

Church Contacts and Visits:
To date, we have received one commitment form – Mt. Zion, York, from the mailing that went out in August. This mailing included a cover letter addressed to the Consistory president, a commitment form, flyer, FAQ sheet and application form. We will begin to call churches now to see if the materials arrived and were distributed. Sandy and Darlene will contact Chuck Baboian about phone calls. Along with financial support, we want to stress the need for applications to get to potential homeowners and the availability of persons to speak about Group to consistories, committees and youth groups. It may be a bit early, but we can encourage youth groups to deliver snacks to worksites and to visit evening programs. Darlene will prepare a new announcement for next YA newsletter

Site Selection:
To date Mike says 15-20 applications have been received. We discussed making phone calls to the locations where packets were dropped off (Sr. Centers, Food Banks, etc) and ask if they would want someone to visit. Steve shared we are on the agenda for the October meeting of Senior Center directors. He will e-mail us with details, as he would like someone to attend this meeting with him. Hopefully, this will increase applications.

Doris shared that the organization F.I R.S.T. will not take any information from persons calling about applications. They will only give out Doris’s phone number. Doris will continue to follow up on this. Les will have an article in the next edition of the York County Council of Churches newsletter. Thanks Doris, for getting an article about applications in Hank Merges column in the evening paper.

Bob Henry has agreed to serve as our Media person. Steve will ask him to try to get something in both morning and evening newspapers about applications being available through the York Association web site and from Senior Centers. We cannot give out F.I.R.S.T’s phone number, but Mike and Doris said they would be willing to let us use their phone numbers.

Others possibilities for applications would be to look at applications from previous camps and mail new applications to these persons. (We would need to be selective as this could raise hopes of persons who didn’t qualify before, and may not now.) Doris was contacted by North York Borough about our program and she gave them information. Perhaps other borough offices would distribute applications. Doris said that the Big Brother/Big Sister program was given applications.



Steve has been in touch with Lorna Yohe, the co-ordinator for York’s Week of Hope. They sometimes receive requests for carpentry work, and we sometimes receive applications that involve more cleaning than construction work. We may be able to “swap” applications to the most appropriate program.

Site Writing:
Mike and Wanda will be going to Loveland, Colorado next weekend. We voted to reimburse travel expenses from the YA account at this time, as Group will not do reimbursements until next spring after all Group paperwork is completed. Steve Kern is also going to attend the training for Site Writing Director.
Mike said this year sites will be divided by school districts.
Austin will invite Ken Goodyear to upcoming Site writing training/meeting. Chip will ask Matt Gobrecht, Travis Hoffman and Mark Hull if they would like to become involved.

School:
We are approved to use the existing Spring Grove High School. To date the camp shows full with 410 places reserved.

Insurance:
Group suggests we have a policy on volunteers. He will check if we could get a policy through Group when he is there. He will also check with local insurance agents and report at our next meeting.

Next meeting:

Site Writing Training: November 11, 2007 at 2:00 PM at Kern’s home.
Steering Committee: November 11, 2007 at 3:00 PM at Kern’s home,
followed by hot wieners special Sunday edition.
Doggies by Austin
Rolls (Pretzel?!) by Mike
Sauce and onions by Sally
Mac and cheese by Darlene
Anything else desired bring along!!