Idea 2

Sound View staff cleaned up our beach and found all the trash that is pictured here.

Now through September 27, we will be sharing ways that Sound View has been working to reduce our carbon footprint, and ideas for what we can do at home. We still have a long way to go as an organization, but we are trying to improve every day!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Idea #2: Today is International Coastal Cleanup Day. Sound View staff cleaned up our beach and found all the trash that is pictured here... Let's go beyond not littering and think about what we're putting into landfills in the first place. We can look for alternatives to plastic and Styrofoam, such as using reusable water bottles and grocery bags, bringing our own takeout containers to restaurants, and buying in bulk!

Sound View reduced our use of disposable plates, cups, and utensils over the summer during our waterfront barbecue day. It is definitely more work to transport the washable plates and utensils up the hill to wash, but we're stoked to be stewards of Creation!

Idea 1

Outdoor Environmental Education Director Nancyrose is in Seattle supporting the Global Climate Strike! Now through September 27, we will be sharing ways that Sound View has been working to reduce our carbon footprint, and ideas for what people can do at home. We still have a long way to go as an organization, but we are trying to improve every day!

Idea #1: Make your voice heard! Let leaders know that you care about climate change and our planet's future.

New Tent-Cabins

We wanted to take a moment to update everyone on the Tent to Cabin Conversion Campaign that took place last fall. Many of you may have seen the incredible changes when dropping campers off this summer, but we want to share this news with everyone! Thank you to those who donated - you will be receiving a thank you letter and your incentive gifts within the next week.

With the nearly $40,000 contributed, along with a loan from the Presbytery of Olympia, we were able to remodel four of our platform tents into cabins with sides made of heavy-duty reinforced vinyl, and a wooden front with a real door. The new tent-cabins keep the insects out and will be able to be heated in the fall and spring months, allowing us to expand our capacity. Converting the tents into cabins created a higher ceiling which gives a positive feeling of more space. New bunk beds finished off the remodel, allowing them to comfortably sleep twelve people instead of ten, with room to spare for a table in the middle!

Summer campers and their families raved over the new cabins. Counselors and campers enjoyed playing cards at the tables and hanging out on the porches on hot days. These new porches also allowed a place for staff to sit outside with homesick campers in the evening, so as not to disturb the rest of the cabin. The family campers, retreat groups, and schools that have used the new cabins so far love them, and are looking forward to a time when we will have all of the cabins remodeled!

Thanks again for your support of Sound View as we work on building capacity and improving our facilities. Your donations help keep us financially sustainable and able to serve more young people for years into the future.

It's a good feeling

As I write this, I am on the way to the mainland from Anderson Island … off to church. The wind is blowing and the rain is falling.

It is a really good feeling when Sound View's waterfront is buttoned up for the off-season. We experience relative calm in the summer weeks but really, Drayton Passage can be very rough especially when the wind is coming from the south. Wind waves and high tides move beach pebbles further ashore and even into the paddle shed.

It is good to know that the big floating pier is safely moored in the lagoon, the volleyball court is taken down, boats are stored upside down, and float lines are ashore hanging up.

Nancyrose and James moving the dock into the lagoon

I am not asking for big storms but at least we can weather them better.

Summer boredom should not be an option

Seriously!  Summer has just begun! Is your child this bored already?

Well then, send ‘em to CAMP!

Did you know that a FULL WEEK (7 days - 6 nights) of overnight (sleep-away) camp at Sound View is less than $400?  Yes - that’s right - and it includes……

• Tasty meals and snacks - not your typical camp food

• Awesome, talented  leaders and role models who are trained to provide the campers with the best experience possible.

• A hundred acres of woodlands, fields, and waterfront to play -  but not gazillions of campers. We like to keep our numbers less than 100 so we can get to know everybody.

• A totally “unplugged” atmosphere in the out-of-doors. 

• Archery and paintball.

• Canoeing, kayaking, polar bear plunge and corcling. (Only Sound View has corcls and we LOVE our corcl games).  We are on a sandy beach on Puget Sound.

• Arts, Crafts, Music.  (Come, learn to play the ukulele - it’s easy)

• Sports and games.

• High ropes course and zip line.  (Challenge by choice - way up in the trees)

• A mini farm and garden to tend. Come, take care of our sheep, goats, turkeys, chickens, and one lovable llama.

• Crazy evening games, campfires, and s’mores (of course!).

• All sorts of fun things to do with the friends you bring and new ones who you’ve just met.

• Optional shuttle from Olympia, Tacoma, Puyallup, Tukwila, and Seattle.

Looking Back

We tend to take pictures of the water at our amazing waterfront. However, the other day after putting away the boats on the dock, I was “drawn” to the view looking back.

Looking back from the end of the pier. One can either go off to the right back to the paddle shed and the waterfront field - or they can venture straight up the stairs to shaded, quiet places. Sometimes, the gulls perch along the rail daring you to disturb their resting time.

When you choose to go straight, you encounter these stairs. Every now and then, we try to control the moss and foliage growing on the steps - not too much however, they are pretty in a rugged, semi-neglected way.

I love this cedar tree. You encounter it after climbing the stairs. Of all the trees at Sound View, I believe this one deserves an Entish name. It is a good tree to sit under to enjoy the breezes which waft up from the Sound.

And the road (trail) goes ever on and on. This one continues up to the ropes course taking a dark, scenic, wooded way. One can imagine natives using this path to portage their canoes to the other side of the Peninsula to avoid the stormy Devil’s Head.

Thinking about summer camp food

I love this time of year because we can plan out much of the summer before we start getting really busy in the spring. Hayley, the cook, got a jump-start on the summer menu and we posted it on the website. I like it (tummy growling) - what do you think?

Our GivingTuesday Video

It was a dark, stormy night at Sound View. But we had fun anyways on the Calvinwood porch trying to convince folks to give to our #tentstocabins #SV404040 campaign.