Sandpiper Newsletter – July 2016

The time has come for the Central Restroom facility at Twin Rocks Friends Camp to be torn down and rebuilt in a new location, replaced with an attractively-designed structure conducive to the privacy and accessibility preferences of today’s campers. The current Central Restroom stands virtually unchanged since its construction in 1975. Forty years ago, it was a state-of-the-art facility, a welcome upgrade from its predecessor. But the years have caught up with the building, which now feels dingy, in disrepair, and woefully inadequate. It lacks privacy and
has no wheelchair accessibility.

The new Central Restroom will include:

■ Privacy. Today’s campers (young and old alike) greatly appreciate privacy, strongly preferring single-person restrooms to the current building’s string of toilet stalls and communal showers. The new building will utilize stalls and showers in exclusively unisex, single-person configurations, accessed from a series of external doorways.

■ Accessibility. In recent years, Twin Rocks has had the privilege of serving increasing numbers of campers affected by disability. In fact, two weeks of camp each summer are set aside exclusively for such campers, in partnership with Joni & Friends International Disability Center. However, the current Central Restroom facility has no ADA-compliant stalls, and inadequate “family-friendly” space helpful for campers requiring assistance. The new building will be equipped with ADA-friendly restrooms complete with roll-in shower and special needs changing table.

■ Cleanliness. Despite frequent and diligent housekeeping, the existing Central Restroom facility is A Brand New Central Restroom in a New Location! Summer 2016 difficult to clean and keep well-maintained. Its aging pipes, stalls, and fixtures challenge the camp’s ability to provide campers (and parents dropping kids off at camp) with a positive impression of Twin Rocks.

■ Congruence. Twin Rocks’ master plan (adopted in 2006) calls for the camp’s central restrooms to be relocated outside of the newly-minted “greenway,” enhancing the park-like atmosphere increasingly present in camp. By removing the existing building and installing a new Central Restroom just west of the Shelter Recreation Center (where the Kiddie Korral play structure now stands), the overall ambiance of camp will improve. The play structure will be relocated within the greenway, enabling parents to easily supervise and interact with their children. Additionally, the camp’s main laundry facility (which has been housed within the Central Restroom building) will be placed outside the central hub of camp, providing a healthy separation from camper activity.

The total project cost to build a brand new Central Restroom facility is $216,000. Gifts to the Million Dollar Makeover will cover the cost of the restrooms and many other important projects, including replacing the gravel in the camp’s central courtyard with sidewalks and pavers.

An Investment in Future Camp Experiences

The Million Dollar Makeover is a $1.2 million investment to ensure future campers at Twin Rocks can have wonderful camp experiences. Take a look below and see what friends of Twin Rocks have made possible through contributions to the Million Dollar Makeover:

Completed in 2016:

■ Purchased new furniture for Harbor Villa and Hadley Hall meeting rooms.

■ Painted the interior of two Hadley Hall meeting rooms and the exterior of Arts & Crafts, several cabins, and the Meetinghouse.

■ Completed a remodel of Larch Cabin, the third and final Cabin of the Trees redone during the Million Dollar Makeover. Now Larch is fully accessible and ADA-compliant with a wheelchair ramp, roll-in shower, and other accessibility features, as well as new plumbing, mattresses, flooring, walls, fixtures, and other upgrades.

■ Installed a brand new dish machine, replacing the previous dish machine which had served the camp well over the course of 20 years and 3 million meals.

■ Placed new carpet in the meeting room of Pacific Woods Lodge and the meeting rooms of Hadley Hall.

“…I am so excited that Twin Rocks is embarking on a new campaign to bring many more ADA-compliant facility enhancements! Thank you for helping Twin Rocks as they, in turn, help many more…”
— Joni Eareckson Tada, Founder and CEO of Joni and Friends International Disability Center

So far, over $730,000 has been received in gifts and pledges for the Million Dollar Makeover (which includes all projects listed on these pages). Please consider a pledge to the Million Dollar Makeover, ensuring meaningful camp experiences for people of all ages and abilities for decades to come.

Completed before 2016:

■ Added a new outdoor meeting space, the 350-seat Lakeview Amphitheater.

■ Resurfaced the Shelter (gymnasium) floor.

■ Breathed new life into Hemlock and Ironwood, two Cabins of the Trees that were taken down to the studs and completely remodeled with new sheetrock, beds, bathrooms, carpet, and more.

■ Reroofed Hadley Hall.

■ Refreshed the exterior of Pacific Woods Lodge with new paint.

■ Increased recreation options by building an outdoor “Gaga Pit” (dodgeball game).

■ Rebuilt the decks of the Arts & Crafts building and Heron Cabin.

■ Purchased 190 new mattresses (over half of total camp beds).

■ Installed a durable, low maintenance “EZ Dock” at Spring Lake that will provide decades of safe waterfront enjoyment (special thanks to the Gray Family Foundation).

■ Received two brand new trucks: a Ford F-150 and a Ford F-350, which have been extremely useful for Million Dollar Makeover projects.

■ Replaced aging ovens with four new convection ovens in the kitchen.

Coming up Next (pending funding):

■ Camp accessibility improvements

■ Construct a brand new Central Restroom in a new location! (See abovefor more details).

■ Enhance Macy Chapel with the addition of an ADA-compliant restroom.

■ Place pavers and sidewalks in Central Courtyard to provide hardscape conducive to wheelchairs and walking aids.

■ Add a few additional amenities: Automatic door openers, an additional beach-friendly wheelchair, molded swings, a trail-friendly wheelchair, a paved crosswalk across a gravel road, a wheelchair ramp, and accessible parking spaces.

■ Construct a 500-foot high-adrenaline, multi-person zipline which is accessible to all, including those affected by disability

Also Coming Soon (pending funding):

■ Create a Nature Center in Lower Friendship meeting room to enhance Outdoor Education.

■ Purchase beach bicycles

■ There are just 17 more months until the camp enters its historic centennial year! If you have photos, stories, artifacts, or other memorabilia that would help celebrate the 2018 event, please contact [email protected].
■ In 2016, Twin Rocks will host 74 guest groups that have made Twin Rocks their annual camp home for over five years (and some for over 20 years!), as well as 23 brand new guest groups. Thirteen groups will hold more than one retreat or conference at the camp during the course of the year, with one hosting four retreats. Twin Rocks is grateful for the wonderful partnership it enjoys with these camper groups.
■ Roger Minthorne has retired from the board of Twin Rocks’ after 65 years of  service, including a decade as Board Chairand 25 years as Boys Camp Director! Roger made an incredible impact on Twin Rocks that will last for decades to come.
■ Sandra Fish steps down from her position as Board Chair, effective August 31st. The camp is indebted to Sandra for the service and care she has shown during her 13 years in this position, the longest ever for a Twin Rocks Board Chair. Sandra continues to actively volunteer at Twin Rocks, but will not presently serve as a board member.
■ Twin Rocks welcomed new staff member Debbie Dingman to the team this spring. Debbie has been attending camps at Twin Rocks since the fourth grade. After 7 years of experience as Lead Cook at Tilikum, she is using her skills in the Twin Rocks kitchen as a baker and cook.
■ In honor of Mary Kyle and her 20 years of service at Twin Rocks, friends of the camp gave over $13,000, a portion of which will help Mary go on an Alaskan cruise, which she hopes to take sometime in the next year, and the rest which enabled the purchase of a utility vehicle for Mary to drive around camp. Thank you for making this possible!
■ Volunteers gave a total of 36,123 hours of service last year—an equivalent of 17 full-time employees! We believe this is an all-time record. Thank you for your many hours of service!
■ Twin Rocks enjoys a new 16-foot tall bell tower next to the Welcome Center patio. This new location for the bell allows sound to travel more effectively throughout all of camp. It was installed with the help of local Boy Scout Noah Hoefler, who served on Servant Leadership Program last summer and has been coming to camp for over 10 years.
■ In January, Cameron Frisby joined Twin Rocks’ staff as an intern, serving at camp through the summer. Cameron came to Twin Rocks for the first time in 2005 as a Tween Camp camper, has been counseling at summer camps since 2010, and served on Summer Staff in 2014. He is one of five interns currently at the camp
■ Fun Fact from the Decades: • 1976: 40 years ago, Herb Sargent and John Meeker prayed that God would give them specific direction for where to drill a well for Twin Rocks. “14 steps that way” was the unexpected answer they received, so they drilled down and found pure water, resulting in Twin Rocks’ current water supply!

Lynwood Friends Church is a wonderful example of the partnership which Twin Rocks Friends Camp enjoys with its “owner” churches. As one of 25 such churches in western Oregon and southwest Washington, Lynwood Friends has for decades utilized Twin Rocks for retreats, youth and young adult leadership development, summer camps, and more.

Having served as both youth pastor and office administrator at Lynwood Friends, and currently serving as Twin Rocks’ Surfside camp co-director, Haley Krueger gets to see the impact of camp on a church community firsthand. As Haley sees it, “At camp, you get a chance to make choices that form you into a healthier person. Anytime someone is challenged in their thinking and has taken the time to have a renewing spiritual experience, it benefits their church. I’ve seen our Jr. and Sr. High students from Lynwood leave for camp anxious about everything, and come back with a renewed confidence in their ability to experience God for themselves.” Haley marvels at the large number of people who “have had encounters with God at Twin Rocks that have transformed them.”

Kevin Frazier, Finance Director at Twin Rocks, grew up attending Lynwood Friends and recalls the impact of camp in his own life: “I accepted Christ at a young age at church, but I made my faith my own when I went to camp. That’s where I really figured out what it means to follow Christ.” Kevin met his future George Fox University roommates at Twin Rocks his first year at Boys Camp, and when he served on Summer Staff in 1998 he met his future wife, Lisa, who also served on Summer Staff that year. For Kevin, at the heart of camp are relationships, both with Jesus and the people with whom he has shared the experience of being transformed by Christ.

The partnership Twin Rocks experiences with Yearly Meeting churches like Lynwood is a central aspect of the camp’s identity. Penny Krueger, Clerk of Lynwood Friends, says that Twin Rocks makes their “small church seem like a much larger church,” and that she’s “proud to be affiliated” with Twin Rocks. Lynwood Pastor Bill Moorman feels that Lynwood is a beneficiary of the ministry of Twin Rocks because “every interaction with God that happens at Twin Rocks has an impact on our community.”

Summertime is incredible at Twin Rocks: Cheerful sounds of laughter. Kids at play. Birds in song. Morning smells of pancakes, bacon, and salt air. Kids running, smiling, praying, swimming, and exploring. Youth enjoying the camaraderie of newfound friends. Cabin counselors listening as campers share their hopes, dreams, and struggles. Lifeguards attentive. Marshmallows roasting. Bibles open.

As you look at the Scenes of Summer 2016 on this page, I ask that you take a moment and pray for our summer, and our campers. We would greatly appreciate it.

And if you feel so inclined, please email me ([email protected]) to sign up to be a daily prayer partner for the rest of this summer. If so, I will send you a daily email throughout the months of July and August with a specific prayer request for that day. Thank you!

— Ken Beebe, Executive Director