McDonalds at Camp Ronald

As I began to explain what my summer looked like to most people I almost always explained how I was working with Ronald McDonald's Charities, and not McDonalds itself. And while that is still true- they do have a distinction between them- there's more McDonalds exposure at Camp Ronald than I thought there would be. You'd be surprised at how much of our supplies is donated McDonalds goods. Anything from cups to croutons come as if they were bought from McDonalds. I suppose it shouldn't come as a surprise, but we were all surprised at the amount of McDonalds supplies spread throughout the kitchen. Paper cups. Coffee cups. Coffee. Milk. Apples. Lemons. Salad Dressing. Sugar. Splenda. Ketchup. Mustard. Honey. Croutons. Granola. Raisins. Peanut butter. Butter. Cookies. Water jugs. Each of these products are marked with the famous McDonalds label.

In other news and as far as my schedule goes, I'm still in the midst of training, and will be for the next week or so. We've played a few games to get into the "camping spirit" while learning all about Food Service and Kitchen Safety. So far we've played Clean-o (like bingo) and Food Service Jeopardy. Here at camp, it's all about learning the fun way, so why not incorporate as much as you can into a game? 

The Great Outdoors

Today officially marks my beginnings at Camp Ronald. First full day at camp, and plenty of things to do. I got in late last night so it was dark when I arrived. But this morning when I went outside I was astonished at the view. Basically, I get to live on a lake, next to a mountain this whole summer, how cool is that?! Breathtaking.

We started with breakfast and a tour around camp. We got to see their waterfront, cabins, arts and craft area, and more. Then most of the rest of the day was some introduction training. Lots of ice breakers at first to get to know my team this summer.

We went over our summer's goals, plans, and schedules and began familiarizing ourselves with out summer schedules. Then we had a kitchen orientation. We got to spend a lot of time learning about the kitchen- where everything is and how to clean it.

Tonight we're headed into town for dinner and to collect supplies for the rest of the week. Susanville, the town nearest to us, is actually about a half hour away. We're pretty far out in the middle of nowhere, but it's beautiful, so I'm not complaining.

Here are some pictures I took today around camp: 

 This is the outdoor theater

I caught this little guy before he ran off. Other common wildlife include deer, birds, and chipmunks.

 The beautiful waterfront

 Pretty view

 Pretty trees

 Another theater picture

 This picture doesn't do it justice, but you walk outside and there's a MOUNTAIN outside!

That's about it for today. The only other exciting part was my new experience with water in a can. Yes, that's right. Water in a can. It's like soda, but instead it's just plain water. Your mind plays tricks on you because you think it should be flavored, or at least carbonated, but it's not. You'll have to try it for yourself.

A Journey's Beginning

Well. It’s official. By the time you read this I will have landed safely in Reno, Nevada and will have made it to my final destination and summer home. I wasn’t going to do something like this, write a blog this summer to document my adventures, but I felt like there are enough people that would like to be updated on my trip out west. That, and some of you reading this probably didn’t have any clue that I’d be headed out west for the summer. So let me take two steps back and try to explain what my summer will look like: 

I will spend the next 12 weeks working as a Food Service Intern at Camp Ronald in Northern California. I’ll be working a lot in their kitchen, preparing meals, keeping track of inventory, ordering supplies, and teaching nutritional education classes every once in awhile. I’ll work with four other Dietetic Food Service Interns, a Registered Dietitian, and the other camp program staff. Why Camp Ronald? I found out about it through a simple “Food Service Internship” Google search and it felt like a match from the beginning. This internship is for college students studying Dietetics though an accredited Didactic Dietetics Program, which I am. Also, I knew I would have to find an internship within the next two summers for my minor, and I knew this was a good opportunity to earn collegiate credit and practical experience at the same time. It's also a lot of what I want to do for a career in the future. And it's a camping internship, and since camping ministry is something very near and dear to my heart, I couldn't resist.

Camp Ronald. As in Ronald McDonald Charities, (not McDonald themselves). This is a campground partially sponsored by the Ronald McDonald Charities. Because of that 90% or more of all campers I work with this summer will be disabled or disadvantaged in one way or another.  So that leads me to where I am now. Suspended in the air, thousands of feet above central United States. I’ll land in about a half hour and my summer will begin. I’ll do my best to keep you updated but right now I’m not sure what my schedule looks like, so it’s hard to make any promises. 

Here's two pictures I took from the plane about mid flight.