Hallam-ICS Volunteers Unite to Prep Camp Ta-Kum-Ta

A chilly VT summer morning enveloped us as about 30 Hallamites (retired and current) gathered under the pavilion. Waters and Gatorades in the cooler, the sun trying to shine through the clouds as we tried to keep warm waiting for work instructions.

 2025 Vermont Service Day took place at Camp-Ta-Kum-Ta, which is a summer camp for kids and their families dealing with cancer. “Camp-Ta-Kum-Ta expanded from its one-week summer camp to offering programs year round. Their programs consist of Winter Weekends (oldest, middle, and youngest), Playgroups, a Moms’ Weekend, our signature Summer Camp Program, Siblings’ Weekend, Dads’ Weekend, a Halloween Party, and a Holiday Party.”

Our work was helping to prepare the camp before the kids come in the summer. We worked on, mulching, weeding, fixing screen doors, soap dispensers, weed whacking, mowing, cutting limbs from trees to make more space for the kids to run around, painting, and more!

We split into groups and the workday began! For those of us who hadn’t been there before we got a tour of the grounds and a history of the farm that used to be there, and a lot of stories of the campers who have come and are current. We got to see the beautiful inground pool, the ropes course, different games along the landscape, their non-denominational church, and at the end of the tour beautiful views of the lake and mountains in a very serene place. The whole place had a real feeling of peacefulness and calm which was so beautiful to imagine during camp for the kids.

We had quite the array of Hallam volunteers from one that started with Hallam less than 24 hours prior to retirees who worked here for decades and came back just to volunteer!

After the tour I had signed up to cut limbs off trees, with no experience with saws or trees for that matter - I set off! A very large saw in hand, I started sawing off the lower branches that would be too low for a mower to get through or for kids to run around safely. After 4 or 5 trees I stood back far enough to be able to see the trees and I couldn’t believe the difference the trimming made, the landscape was beautiful and so much safer.

We broke for lunch around noon and one of the current staff members thanked us for our help and let us know how they truly couldn’t do it without their volunteers. Their staff is only 7 people – but with 800 volunteers throughout the year they manage to take care of a sprawling beautiful landscape, buildings, structures, a pool, ropes course, a fire pit, a non-denominational church, cabins and so much more!

It turned out to be a beautiful day, and we were able to get so much done! For more information on Camp-Ta-Kum-Ta you can check out their website here: https://www.takumta.org/

About the author

Sarah Lester joined Hallam-ICS as the Senior Office Coordinator in January of 2022, after 7 years in the tech industry, working for a software company that focused on Affordable Housing and HUD regulations. Sarah can usually be found at a Phish show, hiking with her husband or finishing yet another book with her kitties by her side. Sarah jumped right into getting involved in the Social Mission here at Hallam-ICS.

Read   My Hallam Story  

About Hallam-ICS

Hallam-ICS is an engineering and automation company that designs MEP systems for facilities and plants, engineers control and automation solutions, and ensures safety and regulatory compliance through arc flash studies, commissioning, and validation. Our offices are located in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Vermont and North Carolina, Texas and Florida and our projects take us world-wide.