Essential Dorm Upgrades: More Privacy and Safety for All
It’s been a quiet year at Mikell, with no summer camp, retreats, or school groups visiting since March. But, we’ve had dozens of families and individuals take the opportunity to stay a night or weekend up here. And, we’ve used this time to fast-track a project that has been in the works for several years.
The bathrooms in many of our six dorms were in need of repair, and we knew they could benefit from a significant upgrade. With the privacy and safety of all of our guests in mind, we redesigned each to include larger shower stalls with locking doors, as well as two reconfigured toilet stalls. This new layout helps us meet the Safeguarding God’s Children and Safeguarding God’s People requirements of the Episcopal Church, making Mikell a safer place for all. Sinks have been moved into the main cabin area to allow for more space in the bathrooms for stalls. And, we installed a new driveway to Scott, which allowed better access for the construction crew and will continue to serve campers in the future.
Initially, we planned to remodel our dorm bathrooms one at a time over the next few years. Because all of our dorms are used regularly throughout the year, it’s difficult to close more than one of them for construction. But with the pandemic came a little silver lining. We had several months that we were able to complete construction on all the dorm bathrooms, saving time and money. Our permanent staff – who usually work in the office, kitchen, or with Blue Ridge – even spent days working as the demolition crew, prepping the bathrooms for the new layout. And a huge thank you to Leonard Griffin, our head of maintenance, who was instrumental in getting the project completed.
Our individual retreat guests have already been able to enjoy the new fixtures, and we’re looking forward to welcoming larger groups to use them when we’re able. These renovations have been funded by a grant from the Diocesan Foundation as a gift to the Campaign for Mikell.
This new layout helps us meet the Safeguarding God’s Children and Safeguarding God’s People requirements of the Episcopal Church, making Mikell a safer place for all.
Now, we know bathrooms aren’t the first thing on anyone’s mind when they come to Mikell, but these much-needed improvements will help ensure the privacy of all of our campers in these dorms – which helps us carry out our Baptismal covenant to “respect the dignity of every human being” (Book of Common Prayer, p.305).
Look for more updates about what’s going on at Mikell in the coming weeks and months. These essential upgrades would not be possible without the generosity of our Walking in Faith campaign donors.