¶ Winter Retreat
Here it is! The largest event of the Fall semester! Just to get this out of the way, this will take up a MAJORITY of your time in the Fall. To make things easy, the following page lists out the steps in chronological order.
¶ Finding a Location
This planning needs to happen during the summer. Ideally, by the end of August (LATEST mid-September) two cabins should be booked.
Look for a location near a large regional park with plenty of activities possible. Steer clear of retreat centers, just cabins themselves should be fine. Make an account and use Vrbo for finding cabins.
In the past, we booked cabins in the Bass Lake/Oakhurst region outside of Yosemite National Park. Bass Lake cabin: Property ID 140333 and Oakhurst cabin: Property ID 1362087 (private, great for sisters).
Look for cabins that range in size from 25-30 people, and that are no more than a 10 minute drive MAX from each other (for example if you can have both cabins in Bass Lake that would be perfect). Plan for a total of 50 to attend the trip.
If a cabin fits a certain amount of people (25-30) do not try to cut corners and stuff more people (50-100). This will inevitably lead to noise complaints, and the owners of the cabin may ask you to leave, cutting your trip short and leading to potential disaster.
To split up the work, have one Director in charge of making a Vrbo account and getting in contact with owners, eventually finding and booking locations (with the advice of the other Director of course), and one Director to call activity centers/parks nearby for hours and activities.
¶ Setting a Date
This depends greatly on the weather. In the past, Alhamdullilah we were fortunate to have good weather (clear skies, but lots of snow on the ground) the weekend BEFORE dead week but after the last day of classes. Be prepared, however, in case you have to push the event back and make it the end of January of the next year instead.
¶ Going Public
With the help of the treasurer, set a price for the trip. Begin a marketing push in late September, just in time for the second Community Night. Consult with the Communications Director. There should be a Facebook Event page, and it should be included in the newsletter for a few weeks prior to the event. Include the price of the trip in the Google Form that will be attached to the newsletter and Facebook event. Continue to push for sign ups as time goes on.
Prior to making it official, feel free to hint at a major retreat but do not give specifics until the form goes out. Here is the form used in the past.
¶ Put a Team Together
In October, the Brothers' and Sisters' Directors should create their own team to help plan the retreat from here on out. This should consist of active and passionate community members. This committee should not include anyone from current leadership, as everyone else will have their own projects. That does not mean they won’t help whenever they can! Everyone wants to help make this retreat a success.
Tasks that need to be delegated:
- Create an itinerary, day-by-day hour-by-hour schedule of the trip
- Rent minivans, check in with drivers, compare prices
- Create a menu for the different meals of the trip
- Create a shopping list for other essentials needed
- Prepare liability forms.
See 2019 Retreat [Fa] for meeting minutes and task breakdowns of the past year’s retreat.
¶ Planning Specifics
Advice to make things a bit easier concerning…
¶ Cars
Recruit as many personal drivers with their own cars as you can (MSA reimburses gas, and you can offer a lower price for drivers’ tickets).
For however many people are left, rent minivans (like Dodge caravans) from Hertz in Berkeley. The past year’s team worked really hard to find cheap prices and this was the best place in the end.
¶ Chains
O’Reilly sells Passenger chains for $56.99 (chains, not cables). These chains are REFUNDABLE if unused, so you can return the bags after the retreat for all of your money back. Each car should have a bag of chains (make sure to get tire sizes from your drivers as it varies, the numbers will be on the outside, flat part of the tire). If a car is front wheel drive, you only need a pair of chains on the front tires (they’re sold in pairs) on the front, and if rear wheel then the chains on the back tires. If the car is all-wheel/4-wheel drive it does not need chains.
¶ Food
On the first night when arriving, try to pick up pizza on the way (like Round Table Pizza). Everyone will be tired and it would be hard to get them to cook.
Generally there will be community members always down to help in the kitchen, so that shouldn’t be a problem for the breakfasts.
Lunch on Saturday will be make-your-own, so prep deli meets and sandwich stuff with snacks and let people create their own bags to-go.
Dinner Saturday night is a big deal, in the past tacos were made with a side of dip and fajitas. Whatever you think will be great to foster a communal experience in the kitchen, go for it!
The last meal is breakfast on Sunday.
¶ Navigation
Use Google Maps to download whatever region you plan on having the retreat, as there is no service in many of these parts! This is truly a game-changer.
¶ Two Weeks Before the Trip
The planning team should go out themselves and scout the locations, seeing where to park, locations of cabins, etc. They should also take this opportunity to ask park officials about weather updates and any potential closures.
Liability forms should be signed by every person attending. One of the Directors, or whoever is in charge of tires/cars, should lead a meeting with all the drivers and show everyone how to download Google Maps offline and how to put on tires. It would be helpful to create a document with all the information to send to the drivers afterwards.
¶ One Week Before the Trip
The planning team should go out and buy everything needed on the shopping lists (Costco for food, Indus for Halal deli meat, Walgreens/Amazon for miscellaneous).
An email should go out to everyone signed up with the What-to-bring list and departure location (Underhill Parking). If needed, you can have two departure times set a few hours apart if a lot of people have class conflicts.
¶ During the Trip
Make sure to have walkie talkies in EVERY car, this way when phone service cuts out, the Brothers'/Sisters' Director can communicate information to everyone.
Assign a navigator to every car who sits in shotgun and has the walkie talkie mentioned above.
It is okay to drive at everyone’s own pace, but once you reach the outskirts of civilization (eg. if going to Yosemite, this would be the city of Merced) all the cars should meet up at a pre-determined location and begin to travel as a caravan.
Safety first, be careful driving and always have an eye out for community members.
Monitor weather conditions closely, and be prepared to have back-ups in case you get snowed in/weather turns sour.
Have fun! Don’t forget to celebrate your achievement of putting this event together, so smile, laugh, and play around with your brothers and sisters!
¶ Resources
Again, see 2019 Retreat [Fa] for budgets, car assignments, retreat team meeting minutes, driver information and debriefing, emails that are sent out, shopping lists, menus, rental information, and a what-to-bring list for the community.
See the Retreat forms for a roster of signups, a sign-up google form, a waitlist form, a locations pro/cons list, and a feedback form released after the trip.
¶ Comprehension Quiz
If you were instructed to read this page as part of an online training curriculum, you must submit this quiz and answer all questions correctly. In the case that you do not answer a question correctly, you may view which questions were incorrect and take the quiz again.
