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Many of you attended the Wood Reunion on July 7-8 and I'm so glad you were there. Thank you to all who helped in many areas and for participating in activities; the community effort made it such fun and a chance for us to get to know each other better. For those of you that were unable to attend I will give a little recap of the weekend. A total of 57 family members attended some part of the weekend, with 41 spending at least 1 night. Although many were from Kansas, we also represented Colorado, Texas, Iowa, Ohio, Massachusetts, Illinois and Nebraska. We enjoyed horseback riding, swimming, great meals, canoeing, a lively Softball game, suburb talent, midnight buffet with buffalo steaks, a patriotic church service, short business meeting, family pictures and just plain visiting. Camp Wood looked great and many improvements had been made in recent years. Some of you may not have seen the Hi Y Amphitheater, Calhoun Health Center, Koger Horse Pavilion, Jones Village housing or the Covered Picnic Pavilion . The Camp Wood Board has been busy soliciting donations for the improvements and seem to be putting them to good use. As soon as adequate funds are raised they plan to build a new Lodge to replace the Jones Lodge which is dated and cramped. Over half of the money has been raised and I know they would welcome additional donations to make this a reality. We hope to always have Wood Family representation on the Camp board and at this time a big THANK YOU goes out to David and Gerry Thurston and Margie Dyck as they are serving us well. They provided a guided camp tour on Saturday to interested family members. The core staff at Camp Wood has been consistent for many years and is doing a great job. The camp Executive Director, Ken Wold, gave a talk at our business meeting on Sunday morning which was informative. This summer they are completely full in all camp sessions, with horse camps selling out first. A government grant paying registration fees for children of service men and women will ensure the camp is full for the next few years. Camp Wood hired several foreign camp counselors this summer which made the camp feel worldly. I spoke to a female counselor from England that loved the experience and hoped to come back next year. The majority of the campers come from Kansas, however campers from several other states attend also. We asked Ken to provide us a wish list for the camp. As with any non profit organization, the list was long, however he provided us with a short list of 5 items which were not in any order: 1) Extension of sidewalk to new covered picnic pavilion. 2) Remodeling of the dumpster area. 3) Shed for the canoeing area. 4) Bench seating for the Chapel for 250 people. 5) Camper Scholarships. There was discussion and much excitement and the Wood Reunion attendees voted to contribute to the sidewalk extension as a short term project. Due to generous donations $3,725 was raised in a matter of minutes; if this exceeds the sidewalk expenses it will go into a fund for another item. If you are interested in contributing, you can send donations made out to Camp Wood with "Immediate Wood Family Projects" in the memo line. Address: YMCA Camp Wood, c/o Anne Snyder, RR 1 Box 78, Elmdale, KS 66850. Margie Dyck also reminded us a Wood Family fund had been established in hopes that when it reaches $10,000 it can become an endowment fund, and the interest earned each year can be used for camp needs. At this time we are 1/4 of the way there, with additional pledges made at the reunion. Donations to this fund can be made by writing a check to Wood Family Fund, and mailing to Margie Dyck, 9802 W. 131st St., Overland Park, KS 66213. Lara Mann (Howard and Peggy Wood's granddaughter) was our photographer this year and volunteered to be the chairperson for the 2009 reunion. YEAH! I'm sure you will be hearing from her soon. If you have change of address or email information on yourself or other family members please let her know. It was wonderful to have four generations present at the reunion and I challenge everyone who was there to bring at least 4 more family members in 2009. We have a heritage to be proud of and a wonderful place to gather for these reunions in the beautiful Flint Hills of Kansas. If anyone would like a copy of the present data base, for family use only, email me and I will send it to you. Until 2009, be healthy and happy. Mary Rankin
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