The Association for Experiential Education Blog

By Binky Martin-Tollette, Assistant Director, Pfeifer Kiwanis Camp

During the winter sessions, Executive Director Sanford Tollette ensures the parents during the first meeting that if we encounter inclement weather, we will keep the kids at the camp and not put the parents in jeopardy driving under hazardous conditions. Then he quickly adds, “But if we know ahead of time that ice and snow are coming, we’re going to call you to come pick up your babies.”

We’re not trying to hate on the local meteorologists, but who was sleeping on the job Sunday night?  Sanford and Binky woke on Monday morning to a call from the cook, Ms. Mary. She said she didn’t think she could make it in to work because of the snow. Say what???  We looked out the window and were assured that Mary wasn’t crazy as we looked at two inches on the ground. Mary’s call was quickly followed by similar calls from Nurse Theresa, the camp teachers, our administrative assistant Mandy, and Mr. Buddy, our maintenance director. Ms. Evelyn, our finance director, didn’t have to call in. We’ve had an understanding for a long time that during bad weather, she’s staying put.

That changed the morning ritual—fewer hits on the snooze alarm. Sanford trekked down to the kitchen to start breakfast for the 31 campers, 14 AmeriCorps members and two program staff who live on site. They had spent the night before whooping it up at the Pfeifer Camp Super Bowl party—foot-long chili dogs, popcorn, chips and dip, and a variety of desserts. Most of them still did not know there was snow on the ground.

Sanford was met with a pleasant surprise. Program Director Alexa Harrod had already made her way to the kitchen, so they began the breakfast of oatmeal, bacon, oranges, boiled eggs, juice and milk. Sanford is too proud to take the easy route with a bowl of cold cereal and some fruit. Program Director Alice McDermott brought the morning medication to the kitchen, and Binky administered it, getting advice from a couple of campers on how to open their pill bottles. (Those ones with the tabs are tricky.)

Now that the campers and staff were fed and excited about the snow, it was time to let them loose. They would have the morning to play in the snow, sledding down the hill behind the pool and the hill by the Kaufman Building. There were also several attempts at making snowmen. The problem with the kind of snow that packs really, really well is that it is so tempting to keep rolling the ball until it is as tall as some of the campers, and the second ball is almost as huge and weighs a ton, so there’s no way it is going to make it on top of the first ball. They tried, though. Right now, there are still about nine huge snowballs in the field. Snowball fights were quickly outlawed by Sanford, but making snow angels was perfectly fine. The campers had a great time in the snow with a mid morning break for hot chocolate. The snow was very wet, so it didn’t take long for fingers to change colors and for counselors to decide it was time to go in.

Sanford, Binky, Alice, and Alexa were not playing, though. We were strategizing. What’s for lunch and who will cook it?  Is there enough wood in the cabins and do the counselors have fires going?  Who will light the fires in the classroom?  What time will the kids go to class?  Who will work in the classroom?  What’s for dinner?  Who will cover the office?

The strategies were in place. Lunch was served. And then the rain came. Instead of having the campers walk in the rain to the bathhouse, they would go directly to the classroom. Their counselors would go to the cabins to gather dry socks for those who needed them, and the wet shoes were lined up in front of the two large fireplaces on either end of the classroom. The wet socks and gloves now needed to be washed and dried.

Two hours later, the already busy and exhausting day took a turn for the worse. The power flickered on and off, on and off, on and off, and off. There are three power grids at the camp, so there were several cell phone calls to confirm that the power was out throughout the camp. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.

Strategizing went to a new level. At this point we did not know whether the power outage was contained to the camp or a larger community-wide outage. One of our employees lives nearby in Ferndale. She confirmed that she did not have power at her house – bad news for her, but good news for us. That meant Entergy would likely fix the problem faster since the outage involved a large area and was not isolated to the camp.

We still did not know how long it would take to fix the outage, so we had to assume it would be out all night. Is there any way to get the campers home before nightfall?  No, it was already late in the day, we couldn’t expect the parents to pick them up, and we only had two 4 wheel drive vehicles that would hold 10 passengers at most. That would take too many trips and would include driving to all corners of Pulaski County. Each cabin is heated by a 5 BTU electric heater on one end and a fireplace on the other end. We would have to rely on the fireplaces. Luckily, dinner had been prepared early and only needed reheating. Thank goodness for gas ovens. The plan was to get the campers to their cabins soon after dinner to settle in for the night and concentrate on maintaining a hot fire in each of the four cabins.

When it was about time to start hunkering down, I saw one of the counselors with a squeegee pushing water out of his cabin. Because of all the rain in 2009, the water table at the camp has been exceedingly high, and we have had periodic leakage problems in the two boys’ cabins. Great, just great. No lights, no heater; just fire and water. We decided to call a church within five miles of camp just to see if it would even be a possibility for us to camp out overnight in their gymnasium. Graciously, they said no problem. Again, it would mean transporting everyone in two 4 wheel drive vehicles, but at least we wouldn’t be driving all over the county. Still, that was a lot of work, so again we decided to hunker down and move the boys to drier cabins. The boys, though, didn’t want to move and decided to ride it out in their own cabins despite a damp floor.

With no lights, we could at least provide one amenity—lanterns from Walmart. At the store a neighbor told Binky that Entergy crews were on the scene in Ferndale and anticipated a repair by 7 pm. That was good news, but this was a day of expecting the worst. At 5:30, though, a shout of Hallelujah could be heard when the power indeed came back on at the camp. Most of the power, anyway. There still was no power in the office, the shop, the trailer, and the director’s house. That didn’t matter, though. The campers and staff would have light and heat. So would the kitchen and classroom. Sanford and Binky knew that gas heaters would keep their daughters and them warm in their house.

By the way, their daughters Zoe and Zia spent the power outage time alone at the house while their parents took care of other people’s children. They patiently waited for us even in the dark with only a candle on the mantle and the gas heater for light. They knew they could easily reach us if they needed to, but they understood the gravity of the situation and that their parents were needed elsewhere. We understood how mature and cool they were which is why Binky got them McDonald’s for dinner from Walmart and why Sanford let them use his way-cool digital tv that had been charged up.

After another walk through the camp, it was time for bed.