Chadar Ochel (Dining Hall/Kitchen) Project - Day Four

The day has arrived!  This afternoon, at 2:30 p.m., the walls of the Chadar Ochel started coming down!  It was an historic moment for Camp Ramah in Wisconsin.  In a little over two hours, much of the building had been demolished.  All that remains standing at the end of the day is the "Chadar Ochel Chadash" and a small part of the kitchen.

How did we decide to embark on the largest construction project ever undertaken by Ramah Wisconsin?  Since the late 1970s, the Camp Committee has created three strategic plans which guide the camp through the next decade.  These plans address areas across camp - the physical plant, enrollment and recruitment, programming, staffing, partnerships with communities and organizations, finance, etc.  In the current strategic plan for 2000-2010, one of the major areas addressed was our food service, recommending that funds be raised and that a new chadar ochel be built to better accommodate the size of the current camp population.  It is very exciting to see the last major goal of the current strategic plan becoming a reality.  In the months ahead, the Ramah Wisconsin Committee, together with professional and lay leaders across our region, will begin work outlining the strategic plan that will guide the camp through the next decade.   

There are a lot of videos and photos today - we wanted to give everyone a feel for what's happening at camp!

Video clips: 

1.  I had the privilege of starting the demolition on behalf of the camp.  Click here for a video of my "work" on the excavator tearing into the Chadar Ochel Gadol.

2.  The roof comes down on the "Chadar Ochel Gadol" 

3.  The bulldozer and excavator are tearing down the bakery (no worries - we will have a brand-new bakery in our new chadar ochel).

4.  The dry-goods storeroom is demolished

5.  The side of Chadar Ochel Gadol comes down

6.  A wide-view of the construction site

Photos:

Click here to see photos of the demolition (album #1).

Click here to see more photos of the demolition (album #2).

Benji Bearman
Business Manager