CW Cafeteria Upgrades its Equipment

Cafeteria Director Paulette Bair scratched two things off her “must have” list last week with the purchases of a cold deck salad bar and tilt skillet.

“It’s about safety and being more efficient,” said Bair. “A better product means less waste.”

A new tilt skillet retails at roughly $12,000 while a new cold deck sells for around $20,000 . However, Bair new that she could acquire the tools she needed without having to break the bank.

“After doing some research I started combing the Internet for options,” said Bair. “I saw what I wanted and made offers. We ended up getting the tilt skillet and cold deck for $2,000 each. I couldn’t even build a salad bar for that cheap!”

The Tilt Skillet is waiting for a few parts to convert it from natural gas to propane while the Cold Deck was put to use immediately. Sporting a self-cooling refrigeration system, the new cold deck single handedly replaces two smaller, plastic decks by being longer, sturdier, and taller, making self-service easier and more comfortable. In addition, the new deck is equipped with special serving holes, essentially combining the workload of two cold decks, saving space and increasing room for traffic flow.

Once converted, the tilt skillet’s versatility will cut down food preparation time while creating a safer work environment as the machine assists lifting and/or straining hot foods.

The two purchases are part of Bair’s plan to improve the cafeteria program both immediately and long term as both additions can be transplanted into the new cafeteria later on.

Video and photos are posted below.

The tilt skillet arrives!

Staff work as a team to move the skillet inside.

The tilt skillet finds a new home and waits to be converted to propane.

The new Salad Bar Cold Deck.

Individual holes keep food organized and cold.

Longer means more people served at one time.

Camp Wawona Staff Finish Gymnastic Lessons for Local Community

Camp Wawona Staff Finish Recruitment Tour for Summer Camp

Camp Wawona Hosts First Session of New Outdoor Education Program

The week beginning March 28, 2010 saw Camp Wawona’s new Outdoor Education program get off the ground with it’s first ever full session. Pleasant Hill SDA School students arrived on Sunday evening to find supper waiting for them before diving right into an overview and orientation of the 4-day education adventure on which they were about to embark.

The first full day saw students practicing teamwork and developing leadership skills through a series of low ropes activities and conquered personal fears by taking on the high ropes course.

Students found themselves in a different kind of classroom on day two as they received hands on lessons in Botany, Geography, and creative writing.

Day three had a surprise in store as students awoke to a few inches of snow on the ground. But the snow didn’t hamper the trip through the local community for a lesson in Human History and then on to the valley for a close up look at Geology.

All in all the week went well thanks to the hours of planning and implementing on behalf of Outdoor Education Director Derek Wright and his team of CW Staff.

“We learned a lot from this first week,” said Wright. “It went well but we can make some changes so next time will be even better.”

The next session of Outdoor Education is scheduled for April 18 – 21, 2010. For more information call CW’s main office at 209.375.6231.

Video and photos are below.

Students gather in the lodge for morning worship.

Teamwork is a must to complete this low ropes challenge.

A student climbs up the rope tube and onto the High Ropes Challenge Course.

View from the top of the High Ropes Challenge Course.

New Sign Points the Way to Camp Wawona

To the local community, indeed to most living inside Yosemite National Park, "Camp Wawona" does not exist. Even though the camp facility has never moved or changed names since it's founding in 1929, mentioning "Camp Wawona" as your destination at any nearly any park entrance (with the exception of the South entrance) will have gate attendants scratching their heads and asking, "Where?"

Instead, it is known as "SDA Camp". The reason? A single sign located near the beginning of Forest Drive, the road that leads to camp, which for decades has pointed the way to "SDA Camp". Locals noted that, thanks to the sign, they have always known who the camp was affiliated with, but never knew it had a formal name.

That's about to change (over time perhaps) thanks, in part, to a new sign which now proudly points the way to "Camp Wawona". The signage change, made several days ago, is already clearing up some confusion among the local community as many are now making the connection that "SDA Camp" and "Camp Wawona" are the same place.

CW Staff hope the sign change will further their efforts to establish a positive connection with local residents and park employees in the weeks, months, and years to come.

Camp Wawona Receives New Chairs

For many years metal chairs were the norm for visiting groups at Camp Wawona. But as time kept up it's steady march, the chairs, though made of a seemingly indestructible materials, grew weary from constant service. Staff were constantly fixing them and storage on metal carts (mankind's worst invention next to the Atomic Bomb) became increasingly impractical.

Indeed, it was time for new chairs. After a disappointing first round with a local chair company, chairs were finally ordered elsewhere and the shipment arrived on Tuesday, March 16. It took five staff more than three hours to unwrap and stack the 160 new chairs. However, once completed, staff were pleased to see the new chairs could easily fit into the storage space alloted, making setup and take down much more practical. After months of waiting, the chairs are unpacked and ready for service. The old chairs will be sorted with the sturdiest remaining at camp for overflow use while the remainder will be permanently retired.

Staff unwrap the new chairs one by one.

A stack of new chairs waits to go inside.

Derek unwraps a chair while several more wait their turn.

Chairs stacked inside add on side room at the lodge.

Cart used to move stacks of chairs.

They fit!

Close up of a new chair.

Camp Wawona Leads Week of Prayer at Valley View Adventist Academy

On the last day of February, several CW staff hopped into a tan truck and drove the 4+ hours to Arroyo Grande, CA, with a portable rock climbing wall in tow. They were team 1 headed to Valley View Adventist Academy to start a Week of Prayer and recruit for summer camp. Team 1 was made up of Anthony Handal, Derek Wright, Jerrod Gabel and honorary staff Tiffany McMertty (please forgive the slaughtering of the last name...and possibly the first as well). The band of staff sang songs and shared stories with three different age groups each day, all pointing to the weeks theme "How Great is our God."

They were joined on Wednesday by Team 2 which consisted of Anthony White, Kristina Malarek (again...I apologize for the spelling), Donnie Keele, and two visiting summer camp staff, Chelsea Inglish, and Krista Turner. The combined teams led worship services together for one day and had high hopes for enthusing the youth about summer camp by way of the aforementioned portable rock wall. However, as the wall was being set up, a remnant of Noah's flood passed through, shutting down the operation. Team 1 headed for home while a portion of team 2 finished out the week with more songs and stories.

Team 2 departed VVAA with hopes that some seeds for God's kingdom had been planted and look forward to future opportunities to serve however and wherever God may call them.

CW staff lead songs

Jerrod imparts truth on young minds

Tiffany receives a warm welcome from the children

Kristina sits with the children and even participates in "Crazy Hair Day"

Anthony tells a spine-tingling story of God's protection