Camp Ondessonk- The Loyal Lodges Prepare for Winter During Fall Reunion
The Loyal Lodges of Ondessonk and Tekakwitha had busy weekend getting ready to kick off one of the most important seasons of the year. Sure, summer is where the action happens, but there’s no better time for service and stewardship than winter. That’s why every year at the Fall Reunion Lodge members gather to warm up with some heepwah in their hearts and add a special element to their customary hard work and good cheer. Fall Reunion is a time for preparation and community building.
The Lodges managed to fit in their fair share of work projects during the weekend of October 12th, including readying Camp facilities for a group of Road Scholars and working on an a bicycle trail for the upcoming Fat Tire charity trail ride. However, the focus of the weekend was stocking the Lodges with enough Camp spirit to get them through the winter.
During the winter season Lodge is most active away from Camp and in their local tribes. Their service includes a variety of contributions such as raising money for the campership fund (and often local charities), promoting Camp and hosting special holiday celebrations that do both.
In order to prep for such a crucial time in the Lodge’s calendar, they had a lot of work to do. When lodge members were not breaking a sweat sprucing up Camp’s facilities, they were playing initiative games, taking their traditional hike all the way out to Reunion Rock, and meeting with their tribes to plan for the months ahead.
On top of all that great community building, the Lodges had the exciting task of choosing a new set of leaders to snow-blow them through to summertime. Each tribe held elections for tribal leaders and Lodge as a whole chose four officials. Princess Molly Logrin, Chief Mitch Cunningham, Sub Princess Alaina Geppert and Sub Chief Sylvan Christianson are the newly elected fearless leaders of the Loyal Lodges.
These new officials are zuted and ready to jump right into the winter season and they want everyone to know that missing out on the Fall reunion does not mean you have to miss out on Lodge this year. In fact, inactive Lodge members contact the officials everyday to reactivate and are meeting their tribes online to share ideas and get involved.
Fall Reunion is a time for taking care of the Lodge community, so it can do its best to take care of Camp and local communities. In the spirit of fall time, it is never too late to for any lodge member or friend of Camp to skip hibernation this winter and make heepwah a part of their daily lives.
If that is of any interest to you, you can contact Lodge officials at [email protected] or search your tribe on facebook to see what’s going on near you!
Reunion weekends are always fun affairs combining rewarding work and good friends for the betterment of Camp, but Fall reunions add a special element to that mix. While the Lodges are always dedicated to furthering the mission of Camp both among Ondessonkians and their local communities, Fall Reunion is a time for service in the form of community building.
Click Here to view Fall Lodge Reunion photos on Facebook.