Dear Ruskoka Camp Volunteers,

We had a fantastic turnout for the final work weekend of 2012! Thank you to Nika, Natasha, Oles, Alik, Misha, Dmitriy, Svetlana, Luba, Andrei, Victor, Sasha, Galina, Ksenia, Nikita, Liana, Daniel, Polina, Katya, Alesha, Alex, and Victor. Although we were only planning on closing down the camp for the winter, we also got many other jobs done. Before even arriving, Nika had to cut and remove several trees blown down during storms. Some of the accomplishments this weekend: we cut many other fallen trees and cleaned up the branches and logs; we split a mountain of logs and stacked them in the house and pavilion, delivered the Ruskoka golf cart and installed a new bumper, worked on the ATV brakes, we stored all of the batteries and paints in the house, rescued a Niva from the swamp, we winterized all of the plumbing, installed valves on all the camp showers, re-wired the girl’s sentinel light, burned and cleaned up piles of brush, cleaned the pavilion and the house, had a leadership workshop for counselors, and prepared fantastic meals! And, as has become Ruskoka work weekend tradition, we celebrated. This weekend it was Dmitriy and Svetlana’s wedding anniversary! Mnogaya Leta! A wonderful weekend to end the season. Spasibo!

A special thank you to all of the Ruskoka Work Weekend volunteers that generously gave up their weekends to help at camp. Your dedication and efforts are very much appreciated!

The Spring 2013 work weekends will be starting at the end of April. We will send a calendar of all 2013 work weekend dates soon.

The Winter Palace Ball will be on Friday March 1, 2013. Mark the date in your calendars!

Thank you again, and see you all at Ruskoka next spring!

Alik