Dear CFC Crew and Disaster Response Ministry Mailing List Members:

Thanks to all who worked with our Cutters for Christ Coalition Disaster Relief Team yesterday at Camp Sumatanga!  Please check out our work day team photo below.

For the second week in a row we divided into two groups and dispatched to separate locations in camp for quite different job assignments.

Group A consisting of Alan Weeks and his winch truck Angel, Bob Suellentrop and his skid steer Abel, Henry Averyt, Ray Miller and Richard Griffin, assisted by camp employee, Sammy, and the camp's backhoe.  They went to Pool Camp and pursued the assignment of pulling out root balls left behind from the serious wind storm that took down the trees last spring.  A coalition CFC team actually cut up those trees last spring after we received the call to come to camp and help clear that storm debris, but we were told that others would follow us and they would remove the root balls that remained in the ground after our portion of the work was completed.  Well, as no one ever came and did that, we were asked if we could finish the job now after all.  With the help of the three mechanical assistants (Abel, Angel and the un-named camp backhoe), the 6 human laborers dispatched the job quite efficiently!

In addition, Group A also removed additional debris piles near the newly rebuilt Nina Reeves Chapel - the old chapel was demolished by the trees which fell on it last spring; a coalition CFC team was also responsible for cutting up and removing those trees several months ago - and a debris pile located near Rev. Mark Parris' home by the lake.

Group B consisting of Bob Thompson, Boyd Martin, Buddy Williams and Jim Pressler and directed by camp employee, Eddie, were assigned the task of driving to the top of Chandler Mountain to the "neon-lighted steel cross" located near the mountain-top chapel and then hiking down the mountain about 70 feet with all their chainsaw gear to clear the sight lines for the new Wi-Fi transmitters that the information technology staff were installing on top of the cross.  This team ended up felling 15-18 trees that were each 50-70 feet tall which would have blocked the Wi-Fi signal from making it to the receivers at camp in the valley below if they had been permitted to remain standing.

Our work at Camp Sumatanga is still not finished, so we have scheduled another work day at camp for next Tuesday, September 17.  Before leaving camp yesterday we scoped out the major jobs yet to be handled: felling several dead trees around the rope course apparatus that will be marked with tape for us by camp staff (so we'll know exactly which trees they want to come down there); and using our chainsaw certification training skills we'll carefully fell the remaining "big pine" that needs to come down in order to clear the Wi-Fi sight line from the mountain-top cross to the food service director's house.  It's at least 90-100 feet tall - actually, maybe more - and a good 30+ inches in diameter.  Perhaps you'd like to see this one come down in person?!

If you can serve with us next Tuesday, please let me know by Sunday afternoon, September 15 if you'll be joining us.  Lunch will be provided by the camp staff (which is another reason I need to know of your participation by Sunday as I need to alert the camp chef as to the number of meals she'll need to prepare for us; and by the way, we so appreciated the meal the camp prepared for us yesterday - chicken parmesan with spaghetti and steamed broccoli, a side salad, fresh baked bread, a brownie for dessert and iced tea to quench our thirst - what a fantastic gift in appreciation for our services and we thank Chef Donna and the entire camp staff for it!)

We are blessed not to have to be providing any storm-related disaster relief at the moment, but that doesn't mean we remain idle.  Working at camp or anywhere else to keep our skills proficient is important and we're happy to provide our services to those needing them.  It does not require a disaster for us to enjoy the fellowship of our fellow cutters, pickers and drivers and even without a disaster we can always deliver our coalition CFC mission objectives: to share the joy of Christ and the love of Jesus through the services we provide and the work we perform both with and for those we serve.

In His Service,