I lost my kitchen
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Real quick, before we get started. Doug and I have been jumping on the mic and recording each week.
Talk From Camp baby!
Episode 2 below: AI Morning Routines, Camp Website fixes, and more. Episode 3 coming tomorrow, where we shamelessly plug a bunch of camp pro names.
Last week I got a text from Sue, our operations director, which basically said, our kitchen manager isn’t coming back to camp.
Wait, what?!
Visa issues. His girlfriend (also our office manager) and the number two in the kitchen also had visa issues. Oh, and our camp baker, you guessed it. Also, visa issues.
We basically just lost the entire leadership of our kitchen and our office in one day. Boom. Welcome to summer, where I’m wanting to scream, curse, and some other things that aren’t going to be 100% appropriate for this very wholesome camp newsletter.
The happy birthday text
Camp needs a kitchen. And Jack needs kitchen staff, so there was really only one thing to do. Other directors will know this one.
The text I just started sending out to all my friends I haven’t talked to since last year. The camp pro version of the happy birthday text. The kind where you look at your last message with someone and it was “Happy Birthday!”
“Hey, how are you doing? Hope things are good. Oh, and also… I need a kitchen manager.”
This isn’t an entirely new thing. The people that got this text have been getting some version of it for the last 10 years. And I’ve been on the receiving end of this same text.
This is one of the biggest reasons camp conferences are so amazing. Good sessions, sure. Great place to meet all of the people you can stay in touch with, trade ideas, get some encouragement, and sometimes find a few kitchen staff? Most definitely.
In camp, when your back is up against the wall, you have to send the text. But you need to know the people, too. Sometimes that’s the system.
Three days, three people
Three things happened.
One. My friend G is coming to camp. I sent him this exact message last year, trying to get him to be my dietary person. He thought about it, decided not to. This year, he’s coming in to help run the kitchen.
Two. Violet’s friend Steve is coming. Cold connect through Violet. Chef at a cool hipstery Brooklyn food place. Coming to camp.
Three. I posted on Instagram. Hey, I need kitchen staff. The awesome Dana Miller saw it. She sent an email and a text saying basically she had four resumes about to hit my inbox of people that would be great fits.
That’s Rayette. She’s awesome. Three kitchen staff in three days.
System or Rolodex
Adam Grant likes to talk about close ties and loose ties. The loose ties are where so much of the magic happens. The people on the edges of your network. The ones you don’t talk to that often but pop up when you need something.
Cory Harrison (congrats on the new COO of ACA gig btw!) likes to say you have to steward camp staff like donors. They’re donating their time.
They could be doing other stuff and making more money. Same goes for the people on the edges of your network. Most of them have day jobs. They’re choosing to help you when they don’t have to.
The camp industry is small enough that you can just have a list of people you’ve met over the years, stay in their world, and ask when you need help. Camp people are the legit best ever at helping.
Staying in people’s worlds is how this works. They see what you’re up to. You see what they’re up to. When something breaks, you text.
I owe Dana. I’ll figure out how to return the favor. Maybe she’ll text me.
You got this,
Jack
PS - Remember, Write From Camp is publishing 3x/ week and free on Fridays. This week, we talked about camps showing up on ChatGPT.
Get my newsletter every week.
It’s all about kids today
Jack Schott
Summer Camp Evangelist