Camp Sherman recognizes volunteers

The Camp Sherman Community Association has honored two volunteers of the year.

Pete Schay worked daily on Camp Sherman Community Hall restoration and the restoration of Civilian Conservation Corps shelters in Camp Sherman. He has been on the budget committee of Black Butte School for two years. He worked tirelessly with the Forest Service and Friends of the Forest to restore areas in the basin and has been a local "Weed Warrior."

Schay wrote a grant proposal on behalf of Friends of the Metolius to eliminate non-native species and then implemented the program. Lastly, he donated and hung the moose antlers that hang over the hall windows.

The recognition came earlier this month at the association's annual Fourth of July pancake breakfast. Nearly 400 people attended the Independence Day feast.

Quilter and consummate volunteer Tonye Belinda Phillips, whose idea it was to get the community hall on the National Historic Registry, was also honored for her volunteer work on numerous local projects.

She buys food for all the fundraisers, cleans the hall, creates Santa bags for the kids, volunteers at Black Butte School including wreath-making and field trips, and every year plants the Frank Dale Memorial Garden. She is a member of the Pine Needlers quilting group, which also raises funds to donate scholarships to graduating Black Butte School students.

Community members, including the Camp Sherman Historical Society, all have a dream. Someday they would like to reconstruct Camp Sherman's original schoolhouse on the community hall grounds. They hope to include a memorial wall in the schoolhouse dedicated to members of the community.

Labor Day is not far away, and the Camp Sherman Historical Society will be sponsoring a pancake breakfast on Sunday, September 6, from 8 to 11:30 a.m. Children will be able to enjoy a summer gathering before their school days begin.