Enchanted Hills Highlights – A Glorious Summer of Blind Camping

Kiwanis Club of Greater Napa, EHC Neighbors Spruce Up Lower Chapel
At the beginning of September, members of the Kiwanis Club of Greater Napa as well as EHC Neighbors and Staff cleaned up the lower chapel at Enchanted Hills.

The chapel is a shaded area at Enchanted Hills that brings into play all aspects of nature: Surrounded by trees and next to a stream, it is a place of quiet and light breezes – the perfect place for our community to gather. As a program area, the chapel has been used since 1928. It was also Rose Resnick’s favorite location at Enchanted Hills.

The Kiwanis helped restore the pathway to the chapel, including patching and smoothing and building retaining walls. Neighbors and staff added new benches and created terraces to place them on. All cleared debris and vegetation, making the area look attractive and sparkling and returned it to its natural beauty.

Many thanks to Bill Cinquini and the Kiwanis Club of Greater Napa, the EHC Neighbors, including Tony McClimans, Gary Margadant and Bob Hayes, for their hard work and efforts.

Neighbors Build Awesome Picnic Tables for Enchanted Hills
For generations kids, teens and families at Enchanted Hills have memories of outdoor gatherings that included the use of a variety of accommodating picnic tables. The closeness and community that breaking bread together fosters is so important that we’ve decided to vastly increase these rustic gathering places throughout camp.

Last month, EHC Neighbors and friends, including LightHouse Board member Todd Stevenot and his family, began an ongoing effort to build us twenty new tables. With their help we first identified fallen Douglas fir trees on Enchanted Hills and our neighbors’ property that could be used to construct the new tables. Superstar neighbor Tony McClimans milled this wood to perfection, creating lumber vastly stouter than that found at hardware stores, and worked in collaboration with next-door-neighbor Andrew Cates to get the wood cut and formed for assembly. Some of the tables we are building are 14 feet long and take at least six strong people to move them. They will be used in a number of locations all over camp. Ten tables have been completed so far, and we want to thank everyone who involved with the project, including Tony McClimans who milled the wood at his sawmill and lead builder Andrew Cates.

LightHouse Friends Gena Harper and Mike May Tie the Knot
Last month LightHouse Board member Gena Harper and former camper, staff member, current volunteer and supporter Mike May hosted their lovely wedding at Enchanted Hills Retreat. The guests enjoyed delicious food, including a “wedding cake” made of beautifully decorated individual cupcakes, and witnessed the inaugural public use of our new Redwood Grove Theater for a full-blown amplified musical performance featuring singer-songwriter Sara Beck and husband Park Chisolm.

We are grateful for the new couple’s generosity in asking their guests to make monetary gifts to support Enchanted Hills, a place Mike has been coming to since 1962.

Congratulations, Gena and Mike!