Camp Olson has been a defining part of my life, twice! I spent eight years of my teens and early 20's at camp, first as a CIT then seven years on the staff. What I experienced has stayed with me throughout my adult life. I am now into my second Camp Olson experience, serving camp as a board member and president of the board. Again, I have that same indescribable feeling I had 30 years ago. It feels so good to be part of such a wonderful place and organization again.

Camp is doing well. In 2007 we enjoyed a record number of campers, built a new home on the Cooper Lake property for our facility manager and his family, replaced the windows on the east end of the dining hall and opened up the west end of the dining hall by removing the camper lounge and nature center. The list goes on, we added more Sunfish to our sailing fleet as well as permanent moorings for our bigger boats, completed the new Nature Center which was a huge hit during the summer. We ended the year with a small surplus in our budget after a capital reserve, which means we will be able to address some capital projects that have been put off over the last 50 years.

We have great plans on the horizon. We will be adding a deck onto the east end of the dining hall, the end that overlooks Little Boy lake, we will be putting new windows in the rest of the dining hall as we continue to upgrade the facilities, and will we are starting the process of addressing the need for a new health center.

At the end of this year we will be losing five board members whose terms expire. These board members have over 30 years of combined board experience and over 150 years of history with Camp Olson. Pretty impressive numbers, but not unusual. We are challenged to fill these five board positions for the 2009 board year. If you or anyone you know is interested in visiting about joining the Board of Directors, please give me a call or drop me an email.

I invite all of the Camp Olson family to join us, either for the first time or as I did a second time. The opportunities are limitless, come experience the Camp Olson feeling as a volunteer during the Memorial Weekend work session, or as a board member or if you have a special talent, training or skill, let the camp office know, you would be surprised at the talents that we could use. Spread the word about camp by telling a neighbor about youth and family camp opportunities. Word of mouth is our best marketing tool.

Come join us and rekindle your Camp Olson spirit.

Sincerely,

Todd Schwartz
Board President
515.270.1136
toddkschwartz@hotmail.com

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