NBZ Meeting- NBZ Day 7-11-15

NBZ Day 7/11/15

First of all, welcome back to camp! It was wonderful to see all of the familiar faces and reconnect with some faces we haven’t seen at camp for a while. As an executive board, we have kept busy implementing new ideas and working with camp to reach out to all of our past, current, and future members. Of course, none of this would have been possible without the support of the NBZ members- so thank you! For future events, we hope to include more family and alumni to get together and enjoy Camp Edwards and share our love for camp.  

Updates from the executive board:

Camp Director: (Jody) This year we have had around 1,200 campers enrolled with over 150 campers waitlisted. Due to camp being at 100% capacity this summer, needless to say, we need to expand. Camp and the Golden Corridor YMCA have worked to establish a master plan- available for viewing in mickelwright lodge as well as camp’s website. Our last large update was the construction of Hoffer lodge in the 80’s, it is time.

President: (Andy) As a board, we have been successful in implementing many changes to camp including, but not limited to, a volunteer honors program, more membership events, and purchasing materials for the upcoming summers. We also want to thank Al for being a superhero and pulling together such a wonderful NBZ day!

Vice President: (Sophie) Campsgiving 2014 was a fun time had by all in Chicago. Due to this, we will be planning on having our next Campsgiving on the Friday following Thanksgiving Day this year, also in Chicago. Keep your eyes on the facebook page, email, newsletter, and the blog for more information as the date gets nearer.

Treasurer: (Aaryn) We will be beginning to accept dues online through the use of PayPal. The link is available through our website as well as can be accessed through a link on the blog or which can be sent through email by Aaryn. Please pay your dues as a member- these dues are used for the purchase of the materials for the honors program (neckerchiefs, honor keys, bibles, etc.) It costs about $20 to get a camper fully through the camp honors program.

Secretary: (Kacie) Please visit the blog- this is where announcements and dates will be posted for upcoming events. http://campedwardsnbz.blogspot.com/  These notes, in addition to notes from the future meetings will be posted there as well as on Facebook.

Honors Chair: (Cala) As a reminder, the NBZ sustains the honors program for camp. Cala has been up at camp during staff training, educating the staff on the proper run of the ceremonies, ensuring consistency through the years. Also, the countdown to summer bowling event was a success this past year, and we hope to continue the tradition. All campers are invited to this event as an additional get-together in mid-February. Keep your eyes on the facebook page, email, newsletter, and the blog for more information as the date gets nearer.

Membership Chair: (Al) We are continuing writing letters for new NBZ members. If you did not get a chance to write a letter at NBZ day, send Al an email with your letter. A survey will also be posted to facebook with an additional way to update contact information for the NBZ announcements and newsletter.

Neckerchief Update: (Penny) We have a total of 1647 neckerchiefs prepared by 16 amazing women! Thank you to all who helped in sewing and cutting these neckerchiefs for this summer, and next. We stil need help for the upcoming year. If you can sew, please email NBZ board to get your information to Penny. If you want to help, but cannot sew, please join us for project 006 to cut triangles of fabric! Any help is greatly appreciated.

Members-at-large: (Cooper & Alex) Congrats for their hard work in digitizing the NBZ history book. When the project is complete, we will share the information to members.

New Business:

·        If any members are interested in sharing their stories with camp summer staff, please contact NBZ board. Earlier this summer we had David Ziegler, owner of Ziegler’s Ace Hardware (9 stores total) talk with cabin staff about the importance of camp values in the extension of camp.

·        We need more ideas for service projects for those earning their black neckerchiefs (instead of simply pulling buckthorn). If you have any suggestions, please contact the NBZ board.

·        Volunteer Honors Program inductees will be earning their purple neckerchiefs at project 006- Congratulations. If anyone else is interested, or if you know someone who would be interested, please contact Andy (NBZ president).

·        Next year is an election year for the NBZ executive board. If anyone is interested in a position, or has questions about any of the positions, please contact a member of the NBZ board.

Again, thank you to all who joined us for NBZ day. Camp is a place where we have the opportunity to get together and share our love for camp. We hope to see more members at our upcoming events. If any of our members have any topics you wish for the board to discuss at our upcoming meeting, please feel free to contact any member.

Have a fantastic rest of summer!

Sincerely,

Kacie Swanson

NBZ Secretary

NBZ Day

Good Evening NBZ! 

Tomorrow is the big day- and we cannot wait to see all of you! 

Attached the is schedule of events for tomorrow's festivities beginning at 10:30 and going through until 4:00. 

 A couple reminders of some things you might want to bring with you:

- your purple neckerchief

- a swim suit, towel and flip flops

- sun screen

- cash or check to pay NBZ dues ($20 or $10 for students)

NBZ Meeting 12-21-14

NBZ Meeting 12-21-14

Happy 2015 NBZ Members! Hope everybody had a happy and safe holiday season. The NBZ board and I had our winter meeting in December and discussed many exciting events coming up this next season. Through the fall/winter, we purchased many materials for the next summer’s neckerchief ceremonies.

Old Business: Campsgiving was held in the city at a small restaurant. There were about 15 attendees. For future campsgiving events, we plan on finding a location more in the suburbs with easier parking opportunities.

New Business:

Friends drive: NBZ will help spread the word of this event (which allows children to receive scholarships to attend camp). More information will be provided in January in a mailer sent out by camp.

Dues mailer: This will be sent out in March/April. There will be a new form of payment online instead of only sending straight to camp.  In this mailer, we also ask that you update any contact info that we may have gathered in previous member gatherings.

Electronic Dues: We plan on beginning a form of electronic payment using googlewallet through gmail. More information will be given on this in the dues mailer sent out in March/April.

Bowling Event: Our Camp bowling event is back! We will be hosting this at Deer Park bowling alley on Saturday, February 21^st. Charge 10 per person, 15 for couple, 25 for family: (unlimited bowling, 2 pizzas, soda, and cookie). This event is hosted by NBZ, but it is open to all campers, friends, and families. More information on this event will be posted on Facebook when the date gets closer.

Black Service Project: We have noticed that the service projects done for the black service project have become short-term tasks to seem as busy work. We want a more longitudinal task for them to work on through the summer. We are open to any ideas that anyone may have. Please contact us nbzsecretary@gmail.com if you have any ideas!

New NBZ Member Letters:  We plan on beginning a new piece to the NBZ induction ceremony, explained the following morning at flagpole. We would like it if each new NBZ member receives a notecard from a NBZ member (alumni) with an introduction, congratulation, and a memory. This will help our new members realize the lifelong membership and old members maintain a connection with camp. We would prefer these messages to be handwritten and addressed to camp (attn: nbz). If this is not a possibility, an electronic one would be fine as well. We plan on having the notes available to be written during the bowling event in February, but if you want to write one early, here’s a template:

Dear new member of the Tribe of the Nani-Ba-Zhu

Congratulations on becoming a Senior Master Camper! My name is NAME and I earned my purple in the summer of YEAR.  It was a great summer for me. I still remember insert fond memories here and how I worked to/how I still goal you accomplished. You should be so proud of earning your purple. Hope to see you at NBZ day next summer! 

Sincerely, 

NAME 

Send to:

Camp Edwards YMCA

ATTN: NBZ

N8901 Army Lake Road

East Troy, WI 53120

Other News: Jody is taking over purple ceremony, counselors will be assisting. Our honors chair, Cala, will be attending the staff training week to help out with explaining each ceremony and how it should be presented to the campers. We also will be in the process of digitizing the honors ceremonies so that they can be saved and used in a source where more people can view them. Many of the documents are getting older and could use a fresher-format so that they can be used during the ceremonies themselves.

We look forward to seeing and hearing from our members in the upcoming events! If you have any ideas for us to discuss at future meetings, please feel free to contact us!

Sincerely,

Kacie Swanson

NBZ Secretary

Campsgiving!!

Hello Everyone!!

For those of you who don't know, there is a bit of a tradition among staff at Camp Edwards called "Campsgiving" - a camp reunion the day after Thanksgiving. We have decided to host our own Campsgiving, and it is open to all camp alumni and their families. 

We're having tacos instead of turkey, but the joy of getting together with camp friends the day after Thanksgiving is the same. 

That's right, on Friday, November 28th, Camp Edwards NBZ is inviting all camp alumni (and their guests) to come together for "Campsgiving" at De Cero, a Mexican restaurant in Chicago's West Loop.

The event is free to attend, and everyone will be responsible for purchasing their own food and drinks. 

De Cero is located at 814 W Randolph street, easily accessible from 90/94 and Union/Ogilvie metra stations. 

More details to come - any questions please email Sophie Cohen at nbzvicepresident@gmail.com

Volunteer Honors Program

For those of you who attended camp for several years but never reached your Senior Master Camper; or those who love to hear the stories from their campers about their Honors successes and want to be a part of the memories, this email applies to you: Important Announcement Regarding Volunteer Honors Program: We will begin the implementation of the Volunteers Honors Program this year at Project 006, held the weekend of September 6th, 2014. This honors program is open to anyone who volunteers or works with camp, or has participated in the summer camp honors program but did not complete it. If you are interested in participating, or have comments or questions, please contact Andy Millis at nbzpresident@gmail.com

Thank you and have a great rest of your summer.    Sincerely, Andy Millis NBZ President

NBZ DAY 2014

Welcome to the NBZ website! This site was designed and made to be a general forum for NBZ members to get information on upcoming events, reconnect, check in and see what is going on - and you don't need to be on facebook.

Last month we had our annual NBZ day, in which we held elections for a new committee. The results are listed on the right hand side of this page, along with contact information, if you have any questions, comments, or just want to say hi! Feel free to email anyone on the committee.

It was another year of fun reunions, grill out, and even a couple clouds couldn't keep us out of Lake Beulah! Below are some photos of the day. We hope to see everyone again (and everyone who couldn't make it as well) next summer!