Highline Public School

Earlier this month, 325 volunteers descended on Camp Waskowitz, a historic outdoor education center and former Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) camp located south of Seattle, Wash.

These volunteers — organized by NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association — didn’t come empty handed. They carried ladders and saws and hammers and nails and paint buckets and brushes.

And in a matter of 10 hours, they completed 20 major projects at this 67-year-old complex — a task that would have taken the camp staff more than five years to accomplish on their own.

Roberta McFarland, the director of Camp Waskowitz, said she felt like the camp had won the lottery. She said the real estate association contacted her nine month ago and asked for a wish list of things that needed to be done. And she complied.

How’s this for a to-do list:

• Stain the cabins, council hall and lookout tower
• Relocate a large deck to the other side of the council hall
• Refurbish numerous benches and picnic tables
• Repair trails and install trail gates
• Install an ADA ramp to the nurse and staff building
• Construct a 150-square-foot greenhouse to grow tree seedlings
• Remove extensive, non-native, invasive plants
• Place 200 tons of crushed rock on walkways and parking lots

Built in 1935 as a temporary facility for the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corp, the original buildings at Camp Waskowitz are still heavily used today. It is a state and national historic preservation site and one of only two (more…)