Representing six Canadian Provinces, 18 members of the Canadian Lutheran Anglican Youth gathering(CLAY) National Planning Committee (NPC) touched down at London's airport all day Sunday and Monday to begin the pre-gathering logistical planning process for CLAY Hands-On. At 4:00 p.m. Sunday the temperature hit 30 Celsius with 75% humidity. Due to the Great Lakes windchill factor, jeans fuse permanently to exposed skin within 15 seconds. The sensation to nerve endings is conversely similar to that of a typical Saskatchewan winter minus the tongue-sticking-to-a-hockey-goalpost part! This Clay-Nation diarist paid the ultimate price for using poor fashion judgement.
NPC members filing into the Hilton Hotel on Sunday experienced an eerie calm before the highly anticipated storm of youth that would descend on the registration desk starting Thursday morning. Over two years of planning must quickly fall into place over the next three days as envisioned. It would soon be showtime!
At 10:00 a.m. Monday morning NPC members found their home-away-from-home for the next week; the NPC Gathering Office in the lower level of the London Convention Centre. The first task was to unload two pallets of office supplies, gathering books, two-way radio equipment and other crucial "command centre" supplies that were shipped from the ELCIC National Office in Winnipeg. The Gathering Office was rapidly taking shape.
The NPC convened at 2:30 in the Gathering Office. As laptops began to emerge from carrying cases the first four questions followed the same pattern as at previous meetings: (1) "do we have wireless Internet service?"..."where is the closest power source?", "who has the duct tape? " and "how far to the nearest washroom."
NPC 2010 Chair Christie Morrow called on NPC members one by one for a status report in their area of responsibility. Gathering Manager Heidi Wilker, no stranger to coordinating large-scale national events distributed a detailed schedule for the next 7 days that left no stone unturned. There was even three minutes set aside for the Saskatchewan Roughrider fans on the NPC to gloat about the Riders 5-2 record. The two Edmonton Eskimo fans on the NPC were unusually quiet and simply stared at the carpet as did the Blue Bomber fans. In a misery-loves-company kind of way...there was strength in numbers.
After meeting for another three hours the NPC broke ranks for the day and enjoyed a dinner together at a local eatery. At the same time in an unknown location, Program & Large Group Gathering Manager Jordan Smith and the sequestered drama/band halted their rehearsals to enjoy a meal together as well.
Only three more sleeps until CLAY Hands On goes live. Tuesday will be another full day of NPC meetings as gathering details get even more detailed. The synergy is building.
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