By Shannon McFarlin News Director
Buchanan, Tenn.–Thanks to a traveling group of talented and dedicated volunteers, the former Camp Hazelwood has been renovated and is ready for what the future holds for the former Girl Scout Camp.
The group “A Year To Volunteer” recently completed renovations at Camp Hazelwood–in just 10 days.
Their project included renovating the beloved Jolly Hall, where so many memories were made over the years; and renovating the seven cabins at the former camp.
For the Camp Hazelwood project, A Year To Volunteer had 32 people put in 1535 hours of volunteer work to breathe new life into the former camp.
Shar and Phil Roos started a traveling volunteer group called A Year To Volunteer and they have the goal of visiting and volunteering in every state for a minimum of 365 volunteer days.
Roos is retired from the U.S. Navy and Shar worked in the finance industry before they began their dream of volunteering year-round. And why do they do it? “We love it,” they said.
In a message to RadioNWTN, the couple explained, “Last year, we reached out to Tennessee State Parks with an offer to take on a project that one of their parks may have. The response was AMAZING and we actually received several proposals including Paris Landing State Park” with the Camp Hazelwood project.
“Paris Landing State Park was amazing to work with and this crew was second to none,” they said.
The Roos couple travel with a workforce of fellow RVers, who move from project to project. Roos said, “The projects we do are generally RV-friendly because as full-time RVers, we tapped into what we view as an incredible workforce of volunteers who also travel. We then find the ‘need’ and then provide the opportunity. We typically have 30 folks on every project and recruit different folks from project to project although we do have frequent repeat volunteers.”
A Year To Volunteer has also completed a large project at Fall Creek Falls State Park and are currently in East Tennessee at David Crockett Birthplace State Park building an amphitheater, a bridge and other projects.
The Paris Landing/Camp Hazelwood project “was a BLAST! Oh, to breathe new life into this beautiful old Girl Scouts camp, now repurposed into a group camp for continued scout adventures, private parties, or retreats,” they said.
The project was “so so much fun and we loved the visits by former scouts who came to see all the work!! Thanks especially to our wonderful #volunteers who joined us on this incredible journey”.
Camp Hazelwood was purchased by the State of Tennessee in 2009 and is now a part of Paris Landing State Park, which plans to transform the property into a camping and outdoor recreation area.
Top photo: Volunteer John Moran at work. Photo by Phil Roos.
Bottom photos: Before and after photos of the former Jolly Hall by Emily Rohrer.