Pioneer Girls Letter 1954

Pioneer Girls
January 21, 1954
Miss Margaret Robinson
277 Ottawa St., South
Hamilton, Ontario
Canada

Dear Miss. Robinson:

Muriel Bish has written to me of your recent camp committee meeting and of all the plans that are being made. I was very glad to hear that you will be the camp committee chairman for yours is an important job and a responsible one. Muriel gave me a list of questions regarding the proposed Camp Cherith and suggested that I make my reply to you. That is what I am doing now and I shall also send her a carbon of this letter.

Muriel mentioned that the spiritual tone of your business meeting was good and that all present were conscious of His presence and leading. I pray that His seal of approval shall continue to accompany your future plans as well.

I shall try to answer these questions in order.

1. DATE. I have made a tentative itinerary for the Caravan and the dates you mentioned August 21 to August 28 will be best for us too.
2. COUNSELLOR TRAINING - If you do not think that the staff will be able to be at the camp site the day before camp opens because of their employment, I agree that a training day in May the 24th when all could be present would be a good idea. Perhaps one or two of us could arrange to come up for your day of training and we could at that time bring along materials to leave with your counsellors and staff. We could go over the daily program at this time and meet with the craft director and arrange for the ordering of supplies. Let me know about this. Perhaps new contacts could be made in the area at the same time.
3. DUTIES OF COUNSELLORS. I am enclosing a section "To the Counsellor" which is a section of Camping P.G. Style. The publication is being revised, so we cannot yet supply you with copies of this. At present we have only an emergency issue. The Counsellor section however is completed and if you need them right away they sell for .20 cents each. They will be included in Camping PG Style later on. This should be available for each counsellor to read prior to camp. If you don't need them right away, they will be complete by May and I can bring them up at that time. In this you will find the qualifications of a good counsellor, what to expect at camp, her duties, counseling techniques, outdoor cookery and a bibliography.
4. All cabin counselors will teach Bible Exploration to their own cabin unit She is the one who lives with the girls, has the closest contact and best knows their needs. Bible Ex. Should be in small groups to afford participation by the camper. For the same counsellor who has games, activities etc. with her to also teach the Bible Exploration will show the camper by example what it means to have Christ in every phase of her life. Hdq. Writes a series of Bible Ex. For camp for the pilgrim, colonist and explorer divisions. This also could be brought up in May and given to the counsellors in ample time for them to prepare it.
5. HANDCRAFT. If we come up in May, we can then go over the craft needs with the counselor you have chosen to handle this. If you wish to purchase your supplies from the States, I would suggest your sending for craft catalogues from the supply houses listed in the Trail Book under the Manual Arts badge for the colonists. When you find what you want, if you wish, we can bring it over to you if you think there might be a saving that way.
6. TUCK SHOP I think we will be able to bring T-shirts, camp hats, stationery etc for resale at your Tuck Shop. We could also bring back any unsold merchandise so that it would be of no expense to you. We shall stop back in Chicago just prior to your camp, so we could repack the car with your items at this time.
7. BROCHURES. We do not have any camp posters available. This year a number of our camps are printing their own camp brochure in order to have photographs of their individual camps on the folder. We have available to them the plates for the brochure cover. If you would want a set of such plates, I think the cost is about 7.00 or perhaps we could get the printing done here with our plates. I will enclose a front page cover for you to see. However it might be more economical to just print your own without our plates. Do you what you think best on this. It is entirely up to you.
8. SALARY. I wish we didn't have to set a price on this. But Hdq will have to reimburse those coming, so I have taken an average of our Camp Cherith Director's salaries and it came to 39.95 or $40.00 in round figures. How does this sound to you? We will take care of the expenses of the other three members of the team.
9. TRANSPORTATION. In trying to do the fair thing about this considering the varied distances the caravan stops will be from Chicago, we've decided to make this cost relative to the size of the camp by charging .50 cents per girls. This amount appears on every camp budget in established camps as in item due Hdq. For the preparation time of the director. However since the planning for your camp will not necessitate this, we can apply this to traveling expense and take care of it in this way.
10. INSURANCE. Our present policy with Brotherhood Mutual, I do not believe affords protection in Canada. Perhaps you should see what coverage you can take locally. There is a possibility that we may change our policy to another company. If this would cover Canadian campers, I shall let you know later.

I trust this will answer some of those questions you mentioned. As new questions arise, send them on to us. In the meantime we shall be paying with you for His definite leading as to site and staff and that this summer's camp may be rich with His outpoured blessings.a

In Him,
Joy MacKay