Nora first announced the many events happening around town:
> Recreation Dune Run Run 5k/10k
is August 27, and they are looking for Sponsors. Anyone can be a T-Shirt Sponsor for $150.00 and will have information in 225 runner bags. You can also be a Bag Sponsor, which costs $25 and put 225 items in the bags.
> Sizzling Summer Concert Series in Ramona Park
each Sunday and this Sunday the band Critical Mass will be playing. The 9/11 Memorial Event will also be taking place September 11 and will also host an Art Show featuring memorial/military art. It starts at 10am, and the solemn memorial ceremony is at 1pm.
Nora then introduced Camp FireUSA's Central Coast Council Executive Director Denise Tallman. With her new position (she started February 1), Denise continues a 24-year career working for non-profit organizations. She had been the Executive Director of the Central Coast Natural History Association in MorroBay, the Very Special Arts California, the Kennedy Charity, and the Adult Community Center of Sedona, Arizona. She is a San Luis Obispo Leadership Class XIII graduate. Denise and her husband love to travel, write and cook gourmet food.
Good Samaritan Homeless Shelter in Santa Maria, Denise said, is unlike any other place in the County in what they provide for their clients. Next to their building sits the Camp Fire Cabin, where the children living in the shelter go to Camp FireUSA meetings daily, earn badges, learn leadership skills and qualify to attend CampNatoma, the CFUSA campsite in Paso Robles. A tie-in that benefits the participants greatly, an example of what CFUSA is all about.
In the 1980s, Camp Fire Girls allowed boys to join and they became Camp FireUSA.
Camp
Fire
began in 1923 and in 1935 they became incorporated - celebrating 76 years! They're not cookie sellers, but they sell creamy chocolate mints (!) as their "door-to-door" fundraiser.
The Central Coast Council covers San Luis Obispo and northern Santa Barbara counties. They focus on Clubs and Camps. Clubs meet year around with outdoor activities, leadership, and community service projects, and their members focus on "Tracks" like Creative Living, Trailing, Service (Coastal Cleanup) and an Easter Egg Hunt. Camping, an original activity of Camp Fire Girls, is celebrated at CampNatoma, continually since their incorporation. Listed by the American Camp Association as a Rustic Camp, meaning there is nothing there except a dining building, cooking cottage and nursing cottage. Without cabins, the members sleep on cots under the trees and stars, separated by age and assigned to a team leader. No cell phones are allowed! CampNatoma is magical! There is archery, night hiking, a swimming pool, outdoor cooking, and, of course, evening campfires with ghost stories and skits. Members come from all over the country and the oldest camper was 95.
There will be an Anniversary Celebration Spaghetti Dinner September 24 at the St. John'sLutheranChurch in Arroyo Grande. Denise said they were looking for funds to upgrade their downtown PismoBeach cottage office.
Grover Beach City Manager Bob Perrault stood and recognized Nora as being The Go-To Person for the events in Grover Beach, from the Pumpkin Festival, Christmas Parade and all else. She also received Employee of the Year this year from the City of Grover Beach.
After the presentation, President Narlene Carter-Keenan raised a box of Camp FireUSA creamy chocolate mints that Denise brought, to be auctioned off. Robert Robert ended the bidding war with a $25 offer, sharing the box contents with those in attendance! WooHoo!
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