CYO Camp Field

Registration for the 2011 Camp Field reunion is now open. So come one, come all. And bring a camp friend.

You can register by simply clicking on the link located to the right of this post, under the “Pages” heading. The deadline for registering for the reunion is 11:59pm on the 4th of July, 2011. We will then be supplying a head count to Tall Timbers on the 5th, which they will use in their meal planning (which entails a real cost) — so if you register but do not show up, you will still need to send us a check for the meals.

Hidy-Ho there, Camp Field neighbors;

Here we are at the official start of summer, and with it just another quick reminder that we have a reunion scheduled for July 15-17. The reunion will once again be held at Tall Timber camp, which we have utilized for several of our prior reunions. If you plan to attend the entire weekend, the cost is only $74/person — which covers lodging & meals (half price for 5-10 year olds, and free for 0-4 year olds). Sorry, no senior citizen discounts! You are not required to stay at Tall Timber to participate in the reunion — you can get your own place in Leavenworth and join us for the daily activities.

If you have forgotten how much fun the reunions are, please visit the Camp Field web site (http://campfield.org/) and click on the reunion highlight links in the right column.

I hope to have a web site up in the next few weeks to handle reunion registration. Registration is very important as we need to give Tall Timber a head count one week in advance of the reunion.

I will also be asking for some volunteers to assist with some activities (similar to prior reunions). Currently I need to know if anyone wants to put together a slide show for the weekend. This could be a slide show of the old camp days or a show of pictures from all our past reunions. Whoever creates it gets to make whatever they want. If you are interested in this job (I will not have time myself this year), please let me know asap.

Any FaceBook users out there? If so, I would appreciate someone adding a note to the Camp Field page/wall with the above information.

[The following message was sent to the email list on March 17, 2011]

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all you Camp Field’ers –

Just wanted to remind everyone that we are planning another Camp Field reunion this summer. The reunion will be held the weekend of July 15-17. We will once again be utilizing the Tall Timber camp near Lake Wenatchee (we recently paid the deposit and signed the contract). The cost for the weekend is only slightly more than what it was in 2008: $74/person for the entire weekend. That includes a warm cuddly bunk in one of their exquisitely appointed lodges, five fabulous meals (Friday dinner through Sunday brunch) in their 4-star dining hall, and an unlimited supply of mosquito bites. As in the past, you can pay for things Ala carte if you are only able to attend part of the weekend or only want to join us for meals (no charge for the mosquito bites). Children ages 5-10 are half price and ages 0-4 are free.

Here’s what you can do now:
1) Add the reunion to your calendar. Tell your spouse and boss that you will be gone that weekend. Give Otis a tune-up so he will get you there.

2) Contact your old camp friends and tell them about the weekend. If they did not receive this email, send me their email address so they can be added to the distribution list.

[The following message was sent to the email list on January 4, 2011]

Happy New Year to all you Camp Field folks across the Internet,

Just wanted to announce that we are planning a Camp Field reunion for the summer of 2011. The reunion will be held the weekend of July 15-17. We will once again be utilizing the Tall Timber camp near Lake Wenatchee.

Here are a few things you can do now:
1) Block out that weekend on your calendar (do the same on your spouse’s calendar so they don’t overbook you).

2) Contact your old camp friends and encourage them to attend. If they do not know about the reunion, send me their email address so that I can add them to the distribution list.

3) We hope to make another digital slide show for the reunion. We would like this one to be different than the one we did for the 2008 reunion. That means we need different pictures. Start digging through the boxes piled in the back of your storage closet to find your old photo albums. We have scanners that do an excellent job in restoring color and removing scratches and dust specks.

4) Please let me know of any changes to email addresses. It has been a while since this distribution list has been used, and so I am expecting a lot of failing addresses. I will keep a list of them and ask you to help me find the missing people in my next email message.

I will send out another reminder in a month or so.

The 2008 Camp Field staff/camper reunion was held July 11-13 at Tall Timber ranch, and it was a BLAST!! We had a wonderful group of people attend and everyone had a great time. If you want to see some of the highlights of the weekend, follow the link to the right that is titled “2008 Reunion highlights”. If you want to see even more pictures from the weekend, click on the “Camp Field Gallery” link to the right, and then select the “Reunion 2008″ album. Inside that album are sub-albums from people who took pictures during the weekend. Contact me if you want to add some pictures of your own.

To the friends and relatives of Camp Field (r.i.p.) –

We are now ready to start accepting registrations for the reunion! (The sound of a roaring crowd is heard in the background)

Simply point your browser to the Camp Field web site (this is the place!!) and over in the right column under “Pages” is a link titled “Registration for 2008 Reunion“. Click there and follow the instructions — it’s all quite simple.

Note: You only need to register and pay for the items in which you partake. If you do not sleep at Tall Timbers, then you do not have to pay that fee. If you only join us for dinner Saturday evening, then you only pay for that meal. What a deal!! Even if you are not joining us for any meals or spending a night (thus you owe $0), we ask that you still register so that we know you are coming.

Please complete your registration by Monday, June 30th. This deadline is necessary so that we can provide a headcount to Tall Timbers so that they can plan & shop for the meals.

Sincerely,
The reunion management

FLASH! CYO Camp Field underground news! Did you know that…
The 2008 reunion is only 5 weeks away!

We have only a few weeks to take care of some important items:

(1) Registration for the reunion. Tall Timbers needs a headcount by July 1st so that they can purchase the necessary groceries. Thus we need everyone to register by Monday, June 30th. I am working on the registration scripts and will send out email in a few days when they are ready.

(2) The slide show. At past reunions, the slide show has always been one of the highlights of the weekend. This year we plan to go digital — in that way more people can have their pictures included. What you need to do is to: (a) Find your old photo album or slide collection. (b) Pick out your best shots. (c) Have the photos/slides digitized and email the digital images to me. I need to receive your images by June 30th so that I have time to put the slide show together.

If everyone contributed 6 to 24 photos (or even more) we should have an amazing slide show. Please don’t think that your photos are not good enough to be included — you might have that one photo of some staff member who no one else has a picture of. And don’t worry if your old pictures are slightly faded, as there are programs that do a great job at performing color restoration. You should contribute images even if you are not planning to attend the reunion. I hope to be able to distribute this slide show to everyone after the reunion, so any images you are able to contribute may live on forever!

How to digitize your pictures/slides: Simply take them to your local Wal-Mart, Wolf Camera, Walgreens (or other drug stores), and most likely Kinkos too. They have machines that will scan your images, or you can leave your photos/slides with them and they will do the scanning for you. And the price is usually reasonable. Alternatively, you can mail your photos/slides to me and I will scan them for you on my PC (and return the originals to you at the reunion).

I am also requesting suggestions for music to play along with the slide show. Any songs that had a particular meaning to camp are good ones (I already have BTO’s “Taking Care of Business” on the list). Or any songs that would be good to play along with a sentimental slide show. Please, I need help in this area.

(3) Contact your friends. Now is the time to contact your old camp friends to encourage them to attend the reunion (use the contact list I sent out a few weeks ago). This may be our last reunion for a long while, so we want to get as many people there as possible. Remember, this is a special blow-out reunion in memory of Fr. Joe and the closing of camp 25 years ago. If you have not attended a reunion before, you do not want to miss this one. And if you have attended the past reunions, you will want to come to this one to see the many new faces: over a third of the people attending so far are attending their first reunion. We are close to 40 participants (informal count, and missing many people I know are likely to attend) — so this is shaping up to be the biggest reunion to date!

(4) Visit the web site. Remember to utilize the camp web site: http://www.campfield.org/. Over on the right are some links to the following: (a) Information about this year’s reunion. (b) Highlights from past reunions. (c) A photo gallery. (d) A set of forums for holding discussions. To post to the forums you must be a “member”. Thus you must register the first time you visit and then log in on subsequent visits. There is a forum dedicated to the 2008 reunion that people can use to organize ride sharing, plan events (e.g., a trip into town for ice cream), etc. There is also a forum dedicated to helping track down friends.

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So, that is your to-do list. Please do not delay. The most important ones for now are digitizing your photos/slides and contacting others about the reunion. Start on those this week!

I wish I could share with you the email I have been receiving from people who are very excited about this reunion. This is going to be a blast. Looking forward to seeing everyone in five weeks (and receiving your digital images in three weeks!).

Jerry