Friends of Albion Newsletter

April 5, 2006

Vol. 1 No. 7

Building Permits in Hand
On Thursday, March 16, the septic permit was issued for the Restroom Project. Because the issuance of the septic permit was a prerequisite to obtaining the building permits, it was necessary to come back the next day for the building permits. I asked for at least the Lonicera permit and I assumed that this is all we would get, however when I arrived they had all seven building permits ready. So, we now have all eight permits, something for which we have been waiting for 5 years.

Weekend Retreat at Albion
On the weekend of March 17-19, about 25 of us gathered to kickoff the Restroom Project at Albion. Myron Widmer provided the devotionals for the weekend using the world of birds to illustrate God's love.

Friday evening Ruth Wiebe put together a history of Albion and showed us the "coming out" of the Mandarin ducks they keep on the pond behind the dining room. Sabbath morning, after our devotional Gibby gave an overview of the finances for the building projects at Albion, a schedule of what we hoped to accomplish, and then answered questions. Following that, we did a little field trip around the property to observe first hand what and where the projects would occur.

The plan was to go whale watching following lunch but the ocean was so rough that this activity was abandoned and everyone did their own thing.

Saturday evening we discussed several proposed changes to the plans for Lonicera with the idea of making the cabin more efficient for groups using only the upper portion of the camp. At the end of the discussion the consensus was to stay with the current plans because the proposals were not viable. There were some questions as to how we would build certain aspects of Lonicera and the types of materials that would be used (for example, shower stalls). A consensus was reached on these issues.

On Sunday morning, we had a large crew of individuals working on Lonicera. We were able to remove the porches at both ends of the building, complete the removal of all the old bathroom in the center, dig the footings for the new additions, and pour the footing for the short block foundation in the center restroom area. This involved considerable breaking up of old concrete sidewalks. Fortunately the soil, once we got to it, was quite damp and quite easy digging!

A Special Thank You for Those Able to be Present
John Collins V.P. for Finance and Pam Sadler, V.P. for Development were able to join us Friday evening and Sabbath morning.

Others who helped us in one way or another were the Widmers, Dederers, Ron Whitney, Saulsbury's, Browns, Jerry Hetzer, Larry Provonsha, Fran Kohler, Hayes, Linannes, John Hewitt and the Wiebes. Even though our group was small, there was great enthusiasm for the projects at Albion. The real enthusiasm came on Sunday morning when we were finally able to get at the job and begin the work. It is going to take a lot of team effort to accomplish the full task of adding the restrooms.

Richard and Rochele Dederer and Ron Whitney came on Tuesday prior to the retreat and cleaned up after Jerry Hetzer and Dennis Simpson who tore out a lot of the old restroom in Lonicera the week before. Then, Gibby and Betty Muth came on Thursday to pick up the building permits and help finish filling a dumpster on Friday with cleanup on the new property. Larry Provonsha and Dan and Emilie Brown came on Friday and finished the tearing out of the old bathroom.

Plans for Building
Lonicera is our first project. It is the double family cabin up on the hill. Jerry Hetzer has agreed to oversee the Lonicera project and will be available mostly on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of each week. He has weekend commitments that preclude him from being at Albion most weekends. What is needed are volunteers that can help him during the week and individuals who can come on weekends to work on the projects that he will lay out for the weekend. When you come, we will house you and feed you.

Our goal is to complete Lonicera and Vanessa this summer. We also need to get the required additions to the septic system completed and the concrete pads for the other cabins poured. The hope is that next summer we can complete the project of restrooms.

We are estimating the cost of the restroom additions to be approximately $375,000 which includes all the sewer and other infrastructure upgrades. We have $112,000 on hand which means we will need to raise about $260,000 to complete the restroom project. I have promised John Collins that we will not do more than we have money for. The goal is to choose materials and build in such a way as to reduce future maintanence costs.

Happenings Since the Retreat
With the help of Farrel Brizendine, we have now completed the foundation for each end of Lonicera and the foundation addition to the restrooms in the middle. Gibby, Dave Wiebe and John Hewitt did the flunky and gofer work while Farrel laided out the foundation and put up the blocks. We did this in the rain on Monday and Tuesday of April 3 and 4. You will notice from the photos that Dave Wiebe had put up large tarps so that we could work under cover.

We now need volunteers to help Jerry Hetzer do the framing, rough electrical and rough plumbing. Your help will be greatly appreciated any day of the week or weekend. If you can help us with your skills (we can use anybody) please call Dave Wiebe at 707-937-5440. If you want us to notify you when your particular skill is needed, E-mail Gibby with contact information and we will keep you posted.

Photos
I have included several photos so you can see the progress that is being made. However, seeing the progress happen in person is the best way to experience it!

Up Coming Newsletters
In future newsletters I will carefully outline the full set of projects and the projected costs to complete those projects. We will also keep you abreast of the progress being made on the projects with photographs of what is happening. More detailed photos and some video will be available on the web site as well.

Subscribe to this Newsletter
This edition of the newsletter is being widely circulated to both those on our mailing list and those not on our mailing list. We hope to keep you informed and want to have you on our e-mail/mailing list. If you would like to receive this newsletter on a regular basis please send an E-mail to me (gmuth@puc.edu) or follow the link below. I will put you on the list. If you don't have E-mail but would like to get a copy mailed to you send the information to me at the address listed below or call me at the number listed below.

You will also note that there is a web site for the building project at Albion. Follow the link below. This same information as well as previous Friends of Albion Newsletters will be available there.

Donations
As indicated above, it will take more money than we currently have to complete the restroom project and the boat dock-boat barn project. If you would like to donate, send your donations to Advancement Office, Attn. Betty Price, Pacific Union College, One Angwin Ave, Angwin, CA 94508., and indicate which project the money is for.

You can donate to either the "restroom" project or the "land" project. The restroom project will be for the building of the restrooms and the associated infrastructure upgrade like the sewer, propane and electrical. The "land" project is for paying off the rest of the land acquisition (recent land purchase of the up-river lagoon) and the rebuilding of the boat barn.

So, when you send your gift, mark it RESTROOM or LAND. This will get it to the correct fund.

Retreat Photos

Betty Muth