CRYSTAL LAKE CONSTRUCTION CREW

We are a group of Scouters, local professionals, and kind hearted leaders that want to make our Council Camps better for future generations.  No experience necessary to join

Brief History:

From the beginning, our very first volunteer construction crew built the Tesomas Dining Hall in 1935 where Ed Lund and 11 others assisted to build the Rotary Lodge.  About 30 percent of its current size, volunteers spent countless hours dedicated to serving our youth by building their future literally one nail at a time.

Jumping forward around 1993 when the TCDS (Tesomas Construction, Demolition, and Salvage) crew formed.  They started a trend of building new structures and repairing current ones. And then to today, when we’ve gone through a name change calling ourselves the CLC (Crystal Lake Construction) crew to better suit who we are, and where we work for the betterment of ALL our Council properties.  There have been hundreds of thousands of service hours working toward a common goal of “Volunteers Building the Future”.  A simple slogan but one that hundreds of volunteers before us have also felt so passionately about.

Projects on all our properties are so numerous that one letter couldn’t explain all the wonderful projects that have been done.  But as a volunteer like yourself through the years at the camp you can appreciate the simple projects like a new sidewalk, a buddy board, a simple bike rack, waterfront rock walls, to some of our “big” projects like Gabriel House at Akela’s, Senior Staff housing at Tesomas, a new staff shower house at Tesomas, several shelters and shooting range at Camp Phillips, countless latrines and campsite shelters and that’s a very small list of where all of you had a hand in fixing or developing.

How can you help:

First and foremost click on the "Signup for Emails" and from there we will keep you informed on all of our projects going on throughout the year.  But here's a few other ways you can help

• Come to the monthly work weekends.  Go to one, some, or All.  It's up to you.
• Ask about joining our Properties Committee or even the Conservation Committee.
• Signup to Lead or just help out on our annual Spring Work Trek (The first weekend of May). 

Typical Projects:

This may be a difficult one to answer but imagine everything in camp will break and always needs an upgrade at some point in time.  Just like your home, camp has all of the same issues but on a grander scale.  Yes, we do build new things regularly but, we do have "fix-it" projects that go on everyday at all of the camps.  As a matter a fact our list contains probably well over 1000 items that need attention now or will need it very soon.  Here are just a few things we do during typical work weekend:

• Room Painting
• Shelter Building
• Bathroom Remodels
• Bunk bed building
• Cabin updates and remodels
• Dining Hall Table and Benches
• Latrine repairs and remodels
• But don't let the above projects scare you off:  we have projects and tasks for all volunteers and skill levels!

Needs and wants:

And here's another way you may want to help in our mission in keeping camps in tip top shape.  If you've already given to our annual Friends Of Scouting Campaign and want to do more take a look at this list of special needs and wants that our camps have.

• Always looking for good used vehicles for camp (light duty trucks, minivans, golf carts, or UTV's)
• Always looking for new picnic tables (Blueprint Here)
• How about donate and help build a new Campsite or Area Shelter (Blueprint Here)
• Or purchase items needed off our Amazon list:  Click Here

For More Information:

Please feel free to reach out to our Facilities Director, Elvis Bauman for more details.  Cell phone 715-490-1742 or by email elvis@samoset.org.