Lou Sandhop (from left), Oddvar Skadberg, Laurence Rudin, Bill Taylor, Paul Monthie and Tim Burke are all regular volunteers at the Baiting Hollow Scout Camp. (Photo credit: Brianne Ledda)
If it’s Wednesday morning, they can be found at the Baiting Hollow Scout Camp.
This has been the case for years. A small group of retirees volunteer projects every Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and work at the Calverton camp.
“We’re getting away from our wives – only for half a day,” joked Lou Sandhop, 82, of Lake Grove.
Mr. Sandhop and Oddvar Skadberg, 86, of St. James are the original (and oldest) members of this group, now seven and continuing a practice that began in 2003 when they began donating their time and services to the camp. Over the years they have taken on projects large and small to make the camp, owned and operated by the Boys Scouts of America Suffolk County Council, a better place.
“They do a little bit of everything,” said camp director Jim Grimaldi. “Over the years I wish I had kept a journal, but they painted, they were carpenters. I think one of the great things they do is we run a program for our Cub Scouts where they build little catapults. They cut 1,200 catapult kits every year. They make bird feeder kits that the kids can build. In all fairness, the list goes on and on … you’ve literally worked on thousands of projects over the years. “
Mr. Grimaldi called their contributions “priceless”.
Volunteers spent several months applying polyurethane to all the boards at the recently renovated 3,200-square-foot McMorris Lodge, named in honor of Andrew McMorris, a 12-year-old boy scout who was hit and killed by a car while hiking Troop in 2018.
“That was a monster job,” said 73-year-old volunteer Tim Burke of the Moriches Center.
They built a logging train, a farm tractor, and a training wall that the boy scouts could climb over. They repaired countless screens and painted bunk beds. Recently they had paintbrushes in hand again to paint a dining room.
And all while they exchange playful jokes on the side.
Laurence Rudin was painting the side of a building in the warehouse last Wednesday. (Photo credit: Brianne Ledda)
“It’s a little bit of this and a little bit of that and a lot of painting and a lot of cutting and a lot of catapults,” said Mr. Skadberg. You never know what’s next. “Maybe that’s part of the fun,” he said.
These volunteers come from different locations and with different professional backgrounds. Laurence Rudin, 74, of East Setauket, and Bill Taylor, 69, of Sayville are retired teachers. Mr. Sandhop worked for Con Edison. Mr. Skadberg worked for Grumman for approximately 15 years and then for 29 years for the Suffolk County Department of Public Works. Mr. Burke worked in data communications. Paul Monthie, 67, of Port Jefferson Station is still on call as a nurse working in the emergency room at Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson.
“When you retire, you have to stay active,” said Taylor. “Either that or I’ll watch, you know, ‘Matlock’ reps.”
The camp opened in 1926 and the entire property covers 220 hectares. There are two parcels that are free and open to Scouts, but they do not own the development rights to those parcels and there are state lands that border them, said Mr Grimaldi.
The volunteers are all retirees who help out in their free time. (Photo credit: Brianne Ledda)
“It’s a beautiful place,” said Mr. Rudin. “We’ve been through it all.”
Mr. Sandhop, who was in scouting for 50 years, said, “We are retired and love this place. While Scouting has changed tremendously over the years, it still provides the way for a child – I’m not just saying a boy or a girl now – how to work in a team and learn how to do things. ”
As for the work itself, Mr. Sandhop pointed out that “some of us are a little older and now we don’t climb ladders or rooftops”.
But they still achieve a lot.
“Every little bit helps, you know,” said Mr Skadberg. “Many hands make the work easier.”
Mr Skadberg said he was looking forward to Wednesday morning. “It’s a little male bond and a change of scenery, a change of pace and something to achieve,” he said. “Jim works so hard out here and does so much for scouting and the advice. How can you reject it or not support it? And that is perhaps the greatest thing to help him and the comradeship. “
Mr Sandhop said, “Once you’ve got that in your blood, it kind of sticks.”
Is there anything else to say?
The volunteers offered four words: “Pick up a brush.”
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