District Foundation

Happy New Year! It's 2017 and I can't believe how fast the years have gone by. This is my 10th year of having the privilege to serve as president of the foundation and as president I've been blessed to be surrounded by the best board of directors, officers and appointees in the world, they do all of the heavy lifting and together we are making strides to keep our Kamp in the best shape possible so that the seniors and the children that attend every year can always have a great time and make great memories.

As I stated many times, we have a constant battle in keeping the Kamp in the best shape that it could be, due to the really harsh winters every year many things crop up that need immediate attention.

This past year it was evident that a few items needed to be addressed, most importantly roofs need replacing. The most needed were the drama hall and the administration building. They both were in really bad shape and we were concerned that they wouldn't make it through another winter. The decision was made that the roofs will be replaced but instead of replacing the normal shingle we decided to go with a longer-lasting solution, which is a metal roof. Today we have brand new metal roofs on the drama hall and administration building which will last for a very long time, saving money in the long run.

Of course there are always surprises that arise every year like having a water pipe freeze and burst in the administration/infirmary from a malfunction in the heating system. Kyle Hoffman from the Metropolitan division came to the rescue by supplying all the equipment, material and labor for a brand new hot air heating system which eliminated the old, worn-out hot water system with fewer water pipes to deal with. Kyle has been so generous and I want to take this opportunity to say “what would we do without you”.

Other surprises like the water filters that get patched every year, it was time to replace them, so we ordered new ones and Vice President Joe Battista, as always will be going up there as soon as the weather allows and will be installing the new ones. This is of course, beside all of the other repairs that Joe makes every year, another great board member that we couldn't do without.

Then we have board member Herb Chan who decided that the administration building interior needs a revamping, so he demolished and rebuilt the two bathrooms, scraped off the old flooring and put down a new one and so many other things that I don't even know about. He just sees something that needs to be fixed and loads up his truck, gets a few workers and drives from Staten Island, goes and does whatever needs to be done, all at not a single penny cost to the Kamp. Then there is Anthony Merendino who coordinates with Herb so that he can go up there and do whatever electrical work has to done before Herb closes the walls. Anthony also helps out with the construction part of all this. Where would we be without them.

I guess what I am trying to relay to you is that even with the best board that any president can possibly have, the Kamp always needs funds to operate, every year that we open the Kamp, there is always surprises that have to be addressed immediately and because this is a brick and mortar business we always need funds to keep it going. There are many ways for you to help and the best way is to budget to send kids to Kamp. This past year we had 638 children attend, almost 40 more than last year, let's try to reach 670 or more, we can do it with your help.

Column Posted on Web Site February 4, 2017