Insurance Money

Last Spring (April 2011) when the tornado rolled through Vilonia, AR and other places around the state it tore off several shingles on the roofs here at the camp. Thank goodness for insurance money. The old Mess Hall was probably the worst and is, as you can see in the picture above, being replaced with Driftwood Architectural type shingles. Hopefully, we will have enough left to patch the other roofs on the cabins as well.

 In addition to nailing down shingles we are still working toward finishing the basement of the new building. To my knowledge we still need money for labor and tools to build the beds. Also, in general the camp needs picked up and spruced up. All of the construction and use over the past year has created dirt piles and such needing to be cleaned up. If you have a front in loader, strong back or just time to help clean up please let us know.

As always you can go to www.campcaudle.org and donate. E-mail me info@campcaudle.org for information or to set up a date and time for work.

Quail Supper

Raise your hand if you like toilets!! Saturday night we had our, "1st annual remake of our what used to be annual," Quail Supper. We nearly had a full house in spite of the rain and all had a very good time. The dinner itself was delicious as was all of the pies and cakes that were donated by ladies from the area churches (Mtn. George, Dover, Dardanelle, River Park, Westside and possibly others I am unaware of). A very large half pumpkin half red velvet cake with cream cheese icing was donated by The Cake Place www.thecakeplacebakery.com in Russellville, AR. The quail was grown locally by Robert Dale of Dover and was cooked by the Roy Family from the River Park church just south of Russellville, AR by the dam. I am told they give of their time frequently to help cook for worthy functions. Recently, they gave up their Thanksgiving day to cook for anyone in need or desire to share in a dinner at their church. Becky Miller did a great job of putting things together as did the members of the board for selling their tickets.

The pictures above were taken during the dinner when I had everyone raise their hands if they liked having toilets. Ha! All were in agreement and showed it with their pocket book. I picked on Chris George first but it was his wife Cathy who got the ball rolling by saying she was so pleased with the idea of having good toilets to use in the new retreat facility she was willing to buy one. Everyone else jumped in as I jokingly prodded a little and pledged to buy all of the toilets, sinks, interior doors and paint for the downstairs of the new building. This is a good example of how when we all pull together we can accomplish great things.One sink and one toilet at a time things can get done.

 As I tease about this all I want to convey how truly grateful I am to all those that bought tickets, brought desserts, bought items for the building, cleaned up, set up or did anything at all to help. It was a huge success because of you.

During the dinner I thought to myself how neat it is that we have formed over the years this sort of Camp Caudle family. I knew many of the folks there and to my knowledge would not have otherwise had it not been for the camp. All of you are so gracious, loving and are genuinely seeking for camp to succeed in serving the Lord. Thank you so much! Also, I want to thank the Beebe church of Christ youth (7ups) for letting us interrupt their yearly retreat to have the dinner. They were very gracious under the leadership of their new youth minister Matt Love and seemed to find someplace to hide for that afternoon while we set up, ate and cleaned up. Thank you. The Servers (Rachel Shipman, Mandy Sublett, Cole Van Horn, Michael Shipman, Hannah Kenney, Chris and Cathy George and Debbie Shipman) gave up their night and worked so hard. We could not have done it with out you all thank you.

Today, I had the opportunity to preach at both the River Park and the Westside congregations. They are both supporters of the camp and frequently invite me for an update and sermon. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at both places and am thankful always for the invitation. While there, I had some ask if we have all that we need in order to finish the building. What we lack are the beds, flooring, some money for the plumbing labor and as always miscellaneous items. Whether you were able to attend the dinner or not and want to be involved in finishing this project please let me know by emailing me at: info@campcaudle.org . If your church or servant group wants to have a work day we would love that.

As always you can go to www.campcaudle.org and click the donate button to give directly to this endeavor.

A very busy weekend and a Sunday has come to an end. This week will prove to be just as busy. Thanks for everything. Tell your friends about camp.

Finishing the Basement

new dining hall

serving line

new kitchen

One year ago we began the second phase of construction on our new dining hall and retreat center. Prior to this, we built the structure and had a shell waiting to be filled. All phases of construction (plumbing, electrical, insulation, sheetrock, flooring, painting, etc.) were feverishly tackled to get the dining hall and kitchen completed by summer 2011. We did it...mostly. This past summer we were able to utilize the new facility which is capable of seating 200 people. In the past, if we pushed it we could squeeze 80 into the outdated, cramped and very hot old mess hall. This was a wonderful and glorious improvement. The sweet ladies that have slaved for years in poor(er) conditions sang praises as they sliced meat and diced vegies in the air-conditioned kitchen that was nearly as big as the entire old building.

The sinks in upstairs bathrooms

Toilets that will be downstairs

where the sinks will go

The space for the thrones

One of the family rooms

showers in basement are installed

This winter our goal is to finish the downstairs (Retreat Center) portion of this facility. I am happy to report that really most all of the construction aspect is completed down there. The electricity, plumbing, sheet-rock and showers are installed. What we lack is the interior doors (8), toilets (11), sinks (14), paint and floor covering. My goal for the pictures above is not to display beautiful porcelain art, rather, to help you see where we are and what we will be doing.

Many of you have purchased a toilet or sink before so you know the cost of each item. Realize then what buying 14 of them would do to your budget along with the installation and the incidentals and you know where we are. In March 2012 we will have one of our first big groups of the spring. My hope is that we can band together and finish this project for the groups that will be able to grow while using it. Obviously, finishing this now and using it as it was designed will be a much greater tool than allowing it to sit another year.

my wife Andrea Henson cooking

Lastly, if you have been involved with the camp in the past 3.3 years you have probably met my wife Andrea. She'll kill me for posting this but she is worth mentioning. She goes to great lengths to save camp money, keep me on task (most difficult task) and raise our children in the Lord. She is a great asset to camp and to the kingdom...and (mushy time) I love her!

Getting Geared Up

WELCOME! to the first ever "Director's Notes" post by Camp Caudle. I am Lee Henson and I will do my best to submit regular post about the goings on here at the camp.

Today there are a lot of exciting things happening on the camp scene. This morning there are workers down at the new dining hall putting up forms for a curb and gutter along the uphill (north) side of the building. This is a great addition that we've been waiting for that will keep the rain water from getting to the building or pooling up in the front door. If you came last summer you know what i'm talking about. Simultaneously, dirt and drainage work is being finished up in the same area. This however, is not being hired out by any crew. With the help of Board Member Brent Ruple of Vilonia, AR and some pick axes, shovels, a not so manly-sized backhoe and a little know how we have fervently played in the mud off and on over the past several months trying to resolve all drainage issues. Lord willing it will be completed this week. (If at any point in this excerpt you feel sorry for me and my back please feel free to come join the work party.)

There is a little hurry up in the air because of another exciting thing that will be happening December 3, 2011. Our Quail Supper, which in years past was an annual event, is a great time for reunions, good food, and excellent camp support. The goal this week is to get the outside of the building more serviceable for the attendees of that dinner. If you don't have your ticket for this event it is with mixed emotions I must tell you that you are too late. Mixed because I am elated that we sold out of all of our tickets....hurray, but I do wish all of you could come. If you aren't going to be with us that night and wish to contribute please visit our web site   www.campcaudle.org and give.

Which brings me to my final exciting point...and this is a big one. We now have the capability to successfully register, pay and donate online. We have been trying to have this feature for a while and every year many of you ask, "when will we get in the 21st century?" Your wildest dreams have come true...that is if your wildest dreams include and are limited too having online registration capabilities. All of this is made possible because of both our Web Designer April Ruple (www.ruplephotography.com) and our new event registration company ServiceU. The current web site is being updated regularly but we will be unveiling our NEW and IMPROVED site sometime in January 2012!

Most don't think about coming to camp until Spring is here and the weather begins to warm up. This time of year we have our minds on the holidays, family, food and vacation. As you can see, however, we have a lot of things going on here. Camp is a year round event. My goal for the next post will be to showcase the other projects in the works that we need to finish before spring time.