Another Kanakuk Director on National TV!

The New K-Kauai Kanakuk Family Kamp Assistant Director recently took a pass from an NFL quarterback on National TV. Check it out.

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Ice makes Kanakuk Flexible

What will no doubt go down as the Ozark's ice storm of 2009 is upon us. Normally this time of day the offices of Kanakuk Ministries are buzzing with phone calls, meetings and planning for the summer. Yesterday about 3:00 the freezing rain started coming down. By the time I left the offices at 4:00 the roads were getting icy. I even took a short detour through the ditch on the way home. As of this morning it's worse, much worse. A mix of sleet and freezing rain continued all night and promises to go on all day. I'm watching the tree branches outside my window slowly bow under the pressure.

So today, Kanakuk's registration department, marketing department and many other offices are staying put at home.

We will be monitoring email and phones the best that we can. If you have registration questions please email reg@kanakuk.com and we'll get back to you.

So, in the marketing department an ice storm may keep us out of the office but not from working. There are too many fun things to get ready for summer. We are working on changes to the website, a logo for the 2009 summer theme (Dare to Dream!), and keeping all the communication flowing.

2008 term videos are on there way to Kanakuk families in the next 2-3 weeks.

Hope your family is warm and safe while here at Kanakuk we get a chance to exercise our K-Flex skills.

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What Changes are Coming to Kanakuk.com?

Jeremy our web development guru has a lot of projects on his list! Besides putting out fires here on a daily basis he's working as hard as he can to get through a bunch of this by summer. There's just one thing in his way...



This chart (meant to be somewhat humorous and a tiny :-) bit exaggerated) tells the tale of the pain and agony of web developers the world over. If everyone in the world would upgrade to the latest version of Internet Explorer (Wait the beta of IE 8 is so far worse than 7) or better yet upgrade to Firefox the web world would be a better place for all.

Here are some of the projects on the list of changes that are coming to kanakuk.com:
Kamp specific Kamper pages
Legit Alumni pages
Ajax based Daily Photo viewing application
new myKanakuk.com user interface
Kanakuk Resources Pages
kanakuk.com site wide search (Powered by Google)
Kanakuk Radio
Sayso Upgrade
Error handling
K-Kauai Kanakuk Family Kamp Registration process and content
New Flash Doc for Home page
Games for Kampers
Facebook Connect integration
Upgrade all Staff sections
Integrate video content from iQuestions.com
Kanakuk Blog Page

That list is in no particular order and there are lots of little things that we are working on. If you have suggestions or ideas for the Kanakuk website we would love to hear them.


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Monthly Payments Extended for Kanakuk families

Calculated monthly payments has been available for Kanakuk families for a couple of years now but not much has been said about it. Quite a few families use the option and it sure does make paying for Kamp a lot easier.

A friend of mine on twitter and a Kamp mom said: "After 8 years of coming up with mega $ on April 1 to send multiple kids to Kamp, I am loving the direct debit pymt plan! Good mktg tool too"

I took that to heart and worked hard over the Christmas break to put together a way to soften the payments even more. What I came up with was extending the payments all the way to May 1st. You can now login at www.myKanakuk.com, choose a child, choose this summers term and then click on Monthly payments. After that you just follow the steps to set-up a calculated monthly payment it defaults to adding one last payment on 5/1/09. That's 5 payments instead of 3. Could make a difference for you or for that friend who might be thinking about Kanakuk this summer. To extend the final tuition due date to May 1st you must set-up calculated monthly payments. The sooner you do it the lower the payments!

Let's be real, it doesn't take any less to provide the absolute best summer camping experience for Kanakuk kids, but we're all being just a little more careful with our money. It's a wise thing. Thanks for making the spiritual, social, & physical life of your kids a priority this summer by sending them to Kanakuk.

Side note: 2009 Summer theme has been picked. "Dare to Dream" You heard it here first.

Side note #2: Thank you for all the feedback on the new website! So much of it is positive that we feel like we are headed in the right direction. Some of you have expressed disappointments with one or more aspects and that is easily the most valuable input we could get. We are working on making improvements based on your feedback every day.

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K-1 "K-Dome" Getting a Makeover

This photo was taken during Tournament day in the 1940's on the "bottoms" at K-1. That location is just a stones throw from where the K-1 K-Dome is getting a makeover. Here are some photos of the current state of construction. Click to enlarge.

The project, which may be completed in 2 phases includes:

Phase 1 -

1. Adding air-conditioned men's and women's bathrooms
2. Adding an elevated stage between the bathrooms on the West end (closest to the Dining Hall)
3. Extending and enclosing the East side and adding bleachers for more seating

Phase 2 -

1. Enclosing the North and South walls, adding 6x8 ft roll-up doors along the walls
2. Installing sprinkler system
3. Installing Air-Conditioning to be used during closing ceremonies.

I don't know all the details on the funding for this project but with out complete funding Phase 2 will have to be done next year or later.

To make these changes to the K-Dome a special variance had to be granted because the building additions would be inside the 25 foot road set back. You might have seen the following in this Branson Daily News article.

On Wednesday, the Board of Adjustment also voted to approve a request for variance from Kanakuk Kamps. The camp owners are planning to build an addition to an existing structure that will encroach into the setback area. The variance request consisted of a 5 foot 6 inch encroachment into the setback area along Lakeshore Drive.

This project is being managed by Kanakuk Kamps' Dean Dewitt, Construction Maintenance Manager and Byron Joplin, Taney County Construction Superintendent. Those two are always making things better around here!

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Remembering Past Friends

"James “Jim” Harold McClary, of Branson, died Friday, Jan. 2, 2009, in Branson, at the age of 81....What he enjoyed most was his work he did at Kanakuk Kamp for more than 40 years. Jim took great enjoyment from being around young people and during the summers the children at the kamps."

With over 80 years of history right here in the Ozark Mountains, Kanakuk has some stories to tell. Not just glamorous accounts of high adventure camping, but tales of those who made it possible! Over the years it has taken many dedicated people to keep Kanakuk Kamps on it's feet and growing. Many of those people have been, and still are, natives of this very area. In fact their families farmed these lands and made a life here long before the first rustic cabin was put up. Once such friend of Kanakuk, Jim McClary, passed away last Friday at 81 years old and in his obituary his family remembered his fondness for this place, the work, and the summers full of children. Like many others, I'm sure Jim enjoyed his 40 years of service to Kanakuk because of the feeling of being a part of something that changed lives, something that made a difference for the Kingdom of God.

So I, honor Jim and all those who have poured blood and sweat into this place over the years so that our children can learn what it means to put God First, Others Second and themselves Third. It's a good life and well done.

History repeats itself. While I sit behind my desk, the work day is just beginning all over Kanakuk land. There are more of us working a way in the offices now then when you were here Jim. But all hands are on deck getting the buildings and grounds ready for what will be the greatest summer in Kanakuk history!

Thanks for your part in Kanakuk's history. What stories do you have to tell!

I'm going to go find one of today's Kanakuk stories and share tomorrow so check back.



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New Employee Announcement - Heidi

Heidi has joined the marketing team at Kanakuk Kamps. She replaces "Chester", the brilliance behind the look of the all new www.kanakuk.com. Heidi was the daughter of a Navy man and moved around but her family has been in the Ozarks now long enough to call it home.

Heidi is a graduate of College of the Ozarks and most recently worked for an evangelistic ministry in Florida as a graphic designer.

On Heidi's first day we subjected her to a photo scavenger hunt to "help" her get to know the people and place that is Kanakuk. Here are some of the photos. Click to enlarge.

I'll just take this opportunity to invite anyone reading this blog to join us for coffee any morning around 9:00. If you are in Branson we are in the Director's building out Lake Shore Dr. Meet Heidi and the rest of the gang. We'd love to get to know you!

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Pick up a copy of The Legacy of Kanakuk

Darnell White and Timothy Publishing proudly present the newest Kanakuk book...

The Legacy of Kanakuk by Darnell White

This book will be a walk through memory lane for thousands of Kamp families and for others a glimpse into what made Kanakuk great all these years. From the History of the Ponytail Parthenon to “Spike-isms” this book lovingly tells the tale of Kanakuk Kamps from the early days through the 1960’s. Much of The Legacy of Kanakuk comes from the heart of Darnell White, Spike’s wife and Joe’s mother. She is the best qualified to share the moments and memories that so many have been a part of. 100’s of photos and dozens of Kamper and staff “remembrances” make the years come alive in this 118 page, hardcover book with dust jacket.

Buy a copy today!

If you would like to connect with the author of this book please email:


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New Kanakuk Kamps web site launches today!

Today the all new www.kanakuk.com is going live!!

We are excited to present it to everyone and hope that you find the "Merry Christmas" dressing fun and appropriate for the season. After the first of the year we'll be changing the look of the website again, but you'll always find the navigation, the content, and functionality in the same familiar places. It'll be fun to watch the creative team here "dress-up" the website frequently and one of these days maybe we'll give you a chance to do the same. There's lots of new stuff to see...

Don't know the first thing about Kanakuk Kamps? Discover it!
Wonder what the hype is about? Feel The Impact!
Need a new friend? Meet The People?
Want to see Joe White in a suit? Drink in the "Unquenchable love"!
Want to ask a question or tell your Kanakuk story? Why don't you Sayso!

We've hidden a treat on the new www.kanakuk.com. Just type the letters "JOY" on your keyboard to find it.

Share any of these pages with a friend! Just click on the little envelope at the bottom of the website.

During the beta testing many of you took the time to give us feedback and we spent time making the site better in those ways. Thank you!!

Once again we need you to check out www.kanakuk.com, kick the tires, try to find problems, and let us know. When you find a something on the new website that could be better just click on the ladybug at the bottom of each page and send us a short description of the change and we'll fix it. Include your name and email address and we will enter you in a random drawing for a $25.00 iTunes gift card.

Also, the www.kanakuk.com web store will be down for maintenance from Dec 19th this Friday at noon until January 5th. The store guys tell me that there is still time to get things ordered and to you for Christmas, just order soon.



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New Employee Announcement

MEMO

DATE: December 9, 2008

TO: Kanakuk Kamps

FROM: Human Resources Department

SUBJECT: New Employee

Please welcome Lesley to the Operations Support Department. Lesley is taking Cynthia P's place as Paul’s assistant. Many of you will get a chance to meet her when you get your picture taken for the new security badges. Smile!

Lesley is a native Californian, but considers herself a “transplant”, as she has lived in the Branson area for the last 15 years. She has three children, two who are in college and one in junior high. Lesley loves sports, especially football and is formerly a chiefs fan ☹ (At this point, she is pulling for a number one draft pick for next year!) She loves to travel and has the Holy Land and Europe on her “bucket list”. (Maybe when all three kids are out of college!)

Lesley’s children have attended Kanakuk and she is thrilled to be a part of this exciting ministry.

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