Camp Orchard Hill nears completion on new dining hall

Camp Orchard Hill’s new dining hall will accommodate up to 300 seats.

https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_TDP112215COH.dining1.jpgCamp Orchard Hill’s new dining hall will accommodate up to 300 seats.

Camp Orchard Hill needs donations to help finish the 15,000-square-foot new dining hall debt free, Jim Payne, exceutive director at Camp Orchard Hill in Franklin Township said.

https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_TDP112215COH.dining2.jpgCamp Orchard Hill needs donations to help finish the 15,000-square-foot new dining hall debt free, Jim Payne, exceutive director at Camp Orchard Hill in Franklin Township said.

Jim Payne, executive director at Camp Orchard Hill in Franklin Township estimates the new dining hall will open in late January.

https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_TDP112215COH.dining3.jpgJim Payne, executive director at Camp Orchard Hill in Franklin Township estimates the new dining hall will open in late January.

The kitchen area of the new dining hall at Camp Orchard Hill in Franklin Township is double the size of the former facility enabiling more efficient service to guests.

https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_TDP112215COH.dining4.jpgThe kitchen area of the new dining hall at Camp Orchard Hill in Franklin Township is double the size of the former facility enabiling more efficient service to guests.

FRANKLIN TWP. — Construction of Camp Orchard Hill’s new dining hall is nearing completion, but funding is still needed to finish the facility debt free, Jim Payne, the camp executive director, said.

The 15,000-square-foot bi-level facility is tenatively is slated to be finished in late January, Payne said. Seventy-five percent of the $2 million project has been funded through “donations and in-kind offers,” Payne said.

Camp Orchard Hill, located on Orange Road in Franklin Township, is a 501C3 nonprofit organization. It has provided children from kindergarten through high school a fun and safe place to spend their summers since 1973.

Camp Orchard Hill offers summer day and resident camps, Winter Blast weekend camp and much more for the children of Wyoming, Lackawanna and Luzerne counties. In December, Camp Orchard Hill holds Christmas at Camp, a retreat for homeless men of Mother Teresa Haven.

The former dining hall could not efficiently meet the needs of the growing camp population.

“In 2015, we have had nearly 11,000 guests,” Payne said.”We have hosted children from Russia and China (during summer camps).”

The growing enrollment has created a strain on the current dining hall that can only serve a maximum of 140 children at full capacity, he said.

Camp Orchard Hill’s food service staff had to offer two breakfast shifts, four lunch servings and two dinner shifts.

Lisa Stull, the food service director for Camp Orchard Hill, said during summer camps staff would begin preparing meals in the early morning and continue cooking all day.

“We were serving about 1,000 meals a day,” she said.

Stull smiled as she took a peek into the new kitchen that is double the size of the former one.

“This is a game-changer,” she said.

The new facility will seat up to 300 children, resulting in one breakfast and dinner servings for resident campers and two lunch shifts for the entire summer camp population. A large wrap around deck over-looking Lake Manjo will provide outdoor sitting for guests.

New kitchen stainless steel appliances were being unpacked Nov. 17 as electrical wires and outlets were hooked up in the kitchen area.

“This is very exciting,” Stull said. “With our numbers growing it (the dining hall) is the answer to our prayers.”

The old dining hall will be repurposed as the Apple Tree Snack shop for children attending summer camps, Payne said.