Spring 2016 - President's Message
Hello fellow campers;
As this is my first Eliot newsletter article, let me tell you a little about myself. I live in Nanaimo, BC with my wife Beth McLin. We have three children and two grandchildren, all of whom have attended camp at some point. Beth and I have been coming every year since 2001 when Lynn Sabourin informed us in no uncertain terms that we must attend for the sake of us and our children. We are so glad we did! I’m an August regular, sometimes Winter, and this year I’m eager to attend July for the
first time.
I’m excited to serve on the Eliot Board. My year being President Elect allowed me to become aquainted with how the board functions and to get to know the amazing people who serve on the board and on the committees that support the work of Eliot. There is a lot of work behind the scenes that goes into ensuring the camps continue to run smoothly.
Strategic Planning: During the January and April board meetings, along with regular camp business, the board worked on a strategic plan. Under the excellent facilitation of Treasurer Terri Schmiesing, we came up with the broad theme of “Wider and Deeper” – “Wider” as in reaching a wider audience of UUs, both geographically by reaching more congregations, and economically by increasing the economic diversity of those who attend camp and “Deeper” as in deeper programing for both youth
and adults.
We came up with three strategic objectives to support the overall theme and spent time between the meetings refining the objectives and potential measurements and milestones. Key in every discussion was keeping to Eliot values and making sure we could actually achieve them.
As an example of keeping things achievable, for serving more UUs (“Wider”), we decided to focus on making Creative Arts as successful as possible rather than trying to start a new summer camp now. The other two ideas we are trying out include enhanced programming and expanding camper geographic and economic diversity. Many details are still to be worked out including a communication plan to inform people of the ideas and to gather feedback.
I also want to thank The Fund Raising Committee, as their work is critical in helping us move forward keeping future Eliot experiences vibrant. We are committed to keeping camp rates as low as possible and extra fund raising moneys allow your board to try things out without raising camper rates.
You can expect more on these initiatives in the months to come. We welcome your ideas and energy.
Don Gayton
President, Eliot Board of Directors