Presidents Report 2015 from Lauren McKinley Renzetti
Unicamp is a home to me. I care about how people feel in this environment as campers, staff,
seasonals, facilitators, first time visitors & how it functions as a community. I have many people to
thank for making Unicamp a community. I thank all of you for attending todays meeting. I thank all
of the volunteers, board members, staff, facilitators, in residences, & seasonals who worked on
making camp great this year.
During our off season the board and senior staff spent hundreds of hours: planning, emailing,
committee work, writing & editing copy, creating agendas, attending meetings & balancing a
budget. Nothing gets done quickly as we do want to ponder and look at all sides of an issue. This
board tried to do more than be just democratic but to find consensus. From the Presidents
perspective sometimes it felt like herding happy enthusiastic, cats. The people I worked with this
year were insightful, caring, funny & thoughtful. All of us tried to put the well being of Unicamp as
whole, first in all that we did. Unicamp was and is in excellent hands. I really appreciate the
people who attended these meetings & slogged through the work- board & staff alike. Thank you.
Our goal for this year as a board was to review policies, & how the board functions with year round
senior staff & finally, a year round camp director. We updated policies about noise & fires on site &
maintained transparency. We reviewed & edited all job descriptions, & created senior contracts.
We created a facilitators handbook, seasonal handbook, program brochure, several monthly
newsletters, a winter dance fundraiser, a 46th anniversary weekend, several work weekends, long
range plans for land & cottages, established an MIT program & a fold out information board to
be at all places of meetings. We did outreach to congregations through email, & in person. We did
outreach to past staff through our Youth Rep & hand made Christmas cards. We spent time being
trained in how to function as a better board, how to communicate more mindfully & Katya &
Karen also attended a workshop on volunteer boards & what works best. We are also researching
the feasibility of purchasing the land next door.
Thanks go to people behind the scenes like Bob Niven making our web site as functional as
possible. The future holds even more accessibility & information for facilitators, possible staff & ease
for campers. Thanks go to Vera Monk our patient bookkeeper, making sense of quick books &
keeping us fiscally accountable. Thanks go to Joanna Barrington & Adrian for planning & running
our winter dance in Mississauga. Thanks go to Katya Schmeid who worked hard at improving the
knowledge base for Unicamp, with the web site, bookkeeping, & bank accounts . Katya had the
foresight for camp to join as members of the CSI group in our new Toronto office which gives us
access to many legal professionals. Thanks go to Adrian Iaccovino who worked hard at all aspects
of camp, did much outreach off season. Thanks go to Terry O’Sullivan for encouraging proper
decorum of saying hello and for his willingness to run the MIT program & his work not only fixing &
maintaining but actually improving our property. Thanks go to Nicole Cormier for her work on &
off season with regards to program and putting up with the notions set out by the board. Thanks
go to Jenny Thomas- Bojin for her caring, insight, & service leading. Jenny you will be missed.
The following reports in this package will give you more in depth information on all things Unicamp.
Our future hopefully holds more land, a longer open season, renovated accommodations; further
work on the web site, social media platforms, off season rental flyer & restructuring our staffing
model. This is my thirty-third year at Unicamp, fourth time on the board & final year as a board
member. I did not get done, all I had hoped. But I am glad to have served & even more glad to
be done. I am truly looking forward to being just a seasonal camper next year.
PHEWLauren McKinley Renzetti