Alliance Redwoods Conf. Grounds, Occidental, CA Nov. 2007

Alliance Redwoods Conference Grounds entrance

Alliance Redwoods Conference Grounds in Occidental, CA (near Santa Rosa)is a beautiful place deep in the Redwood rainforest on the CA coast. Darren connected buidlings to existing water, restored one retaining wall and built another and repaired drainage. We were there for about six weeks. Darren had much help with existing staff members.

All the pictures seem dark, not because we were working at night, but because the forest canopy is so dense that it is quite dark even at high noon.

Retaining Wall Repair. It is a retaining wall/seating area serving a group of cabins. The wall was eroding away. They tore it down, sunk sonotube 5' deep and filled with concrete around each support. Then backfilled the area, compacting it every few feet. The wall and seats were then re-installed. It's not going to move now!









Tearing down the existing wall


Setting the upright posts

This is camp staff working with Darren

Making sure it's all on the level

Improving/Repairing Drainage: This camp is situated around a creek at the bottom of a 700' deep ravine. Winter rains here cause major, major runoff down the hill. Some buildings have become flooded as the water goes where it wants. Darren regraded the land in several areas around the camp and we have current reports that during winter 2007/2008 there was no water in the buildings and the surrounding areas were not holding water as they had in the past.

Over time, this hillside had fallen down to the building footer. Darren's chore was to pull the dirt away and build a retaining wall to protect the building from water seepage and dryrot.

Building the retaining wall behind a building to hold back erosion away from the structure

WATER LINE INSTALLATION: The camp had a new 4" water main installed but still needed all the buildings to be connected to the new water. With help from the camp staff, Darren connected several buildings to water. Working around all the trees and tight proximity between buildings posed a challenge which was easily met by the mini-excavator, wheel barrows, and 5 gallon buckets. Having a full-time helper on this portion of the project was extremely helpful.

Dumping fill into a wheel barrow to be carted down the hill, covering recently-laid pipe by a building

Beyond the excavator, you can see the steep hill and the close proximity of cabins and trees on this water-line project.

SAMBICA Ministries, Bellevue, WA Oct 2007

SAMBICA Ministries was easily our smallest project so far and yet we saw that our services helped this ministry to achieve its immediate objectives at a fraction of the estimated costs.

This camp needed a small patch of ground prepared for the installation of a new play structure and a pair of retaining walls built to support the steep slope that adjoined the play ground area.

The retaining walls were built with large boulders placed one by one using our excavator. Each retaining wall is 4’ tall and 70’ long.

In the process we repaired a troublesome sewer line, upgraded some roads, re-graded some areas to improve drainage and removed some tree stumps.

Because SAMBICA has daily before and after school programs it was vital that this project be completed with as little down-time as possible. The construction site was in the immediate vicinity of the daily school activities. We stay on the site until the work is completed and work closely with the ministry to organize and coordinate work flow. This allowed for completion of the project in just six days.

Behind the fence is the entire work site.

Building the retaining wall

Ready for the play structure

Black Lake Bible Camp - Olympia WA - Sept '07

We spent the month of September at Black Lake Bible Camp in Olympia, WA. The camp is completing a new gym/activity building. The plan required a 25-car parking lot and a complex drainage & water retention system.

HighTouch Ministries helped BLBC save over $70,000 on this excavation project. There was an extensive (and expensive) water runoff/retention engineered plan that needed to be installed. It was about a half-acre water retention pond with a 400' drainage channel between the new parking lot and the rentention pond. The drainage channel looked like a half pipe on Mt. Hood, measuring 3 ft. deep and 12 ft. wide and 400 ft. long. This grading and drainage project required few materials, but constituted the bulk of their cost savings.

Black Lake Bible Camp has a board member who is also a surveyor. He graciously donated his services and worked with Darren on several occasions. This gift saved an additional amount of money on the project. We are so blessed to see God's people giving their services and financial resources to vital camping ministries such as Black Lake Bible Camp.

Steve, Ewert, Black Lake's Executive Director, says he will be happy to give a reference of our work to any who inquire. You can contact him through the camp's website at http://www.blacklakebiblecamp.com/

BUILDING THE PARKING LOT

Ready to use until the asphalt is laid.



WATER RETENTION POND

Aldersgate Conf. Center - Turner, OR April-July 2007

Our first trip to Aldersgate Conference Center was in May of 2005. We were scheduled to do Phase I of the ministry's installation of an internal sewer system to hook up to city utilities. That involved deep trenches, installing manholes, etc. (We have pictures if you want to see that project) We returned in April 2007 to complete the second phase of the sewer line. This phase involved installing 8" pipe up a steep hill through the woods to connect to a 24 room hotel-style lodge facility.

They also had need of more parking space, so Darren was asked to design and build a 50-car parking lot in a little-used field that was marshy most of the time. Darren designed the parking lot, roughed in the grade and compacted the gravel. He coordinated the asphalt company and the concrete contractor (for curbs). Before we left there was enough rain to see that the drainage on the new parking lot worked as planned.

The Aldersgate's RV park also needed a sewer upgrade, so that was worked into the plan.

In the process of these three major projects there were a number of other projects that were completed, including cutting into a hillside to create storage area by the maintenance shop, limbing trees, installing uprights for a climbing wall, tree trunk removal, installing a sand volleyball court, moving a mountainous burn pile, etc. etc.

The ministry had saved up enough money to fund the phase II sewer project based on local bids. With the help of HighTouch Ministries, Aldersgate was able to stretch those funds to complete all these other projects as well as the major sewer project. Between the first phase in 2005 and the second phase in 2007, Aldersgate saw a savings of $100,000. They chose to use the savings to have us complete other major and minor property improvement projects while we were there.

The Aldersgate project is a prime example of HighTouch Ministries completing its mission -- to save ministries money on underground so they can use those funds for more impactful ministry above ground. We are grateful for the Lord's leading to connect our two ministries.

8' sewer line

Site of the proposed parking lot - taken in phase I (2005)

Completed 50-car parking lot at Aldersate Conf. Center

Twin Rocks Friends Camp - Aug 2007

We were at Twin Rocks Friends Camp (TRFC) in Rockaway Beach, OR during the month of August. The weather was beautiful and we'd have to say that the working conditions were absolutely perfect. The soil was soft and free of rocks, ground water, and utilities (in general). Darren had consistent assistance through the entire project with the help of the camp's maintenance staff. The weather was PERFECTION for working outside. It was a little cold for swimming, but perfect for sweating in a trench!

We are impressed with how much the Lord allowed us to accomplish on this project. The perfect soil and working conditions were instrumental in the following tasks completed in FOUR WEEKS.

1. 275' Sewer line installed
2. 350' Rain drains installed
3. 1200' of 2" water line installed
4. 5 concrete underground utility vaults installed
5. Built a 50' turnaround roadway for vehicle access to cabins
6. Re-graded 100'x200' ball field
7. 1200' underground power conduit installed
8. 700' of 6" water line installed with a tap into water main
9. 200' underground boring for utilities (to avoid tearing out sidewalks and trees)
10. Crossed underground utilities 20 times
11. Repaired all the land after trenching & installing (ready for grass seed)
12. Graded roads

That's quite a list! Darren worked an average of 45 hours per week August 1 to Sep 6. He used all our own equipment plus the camp's dump truck and loader. No outside equipment was necessary for this work. The camp provided staff assistance whenever needed which helped to get the pipe laid and glued and the camp staff did all the materials runs.

Here are some pictures:

Underground utilities -- adding a fire hydrant

Water Line -- Tapping into the Main

Horizontal Boring



Underground Utility Vault


While we can't guarantee these results on every project, we thought it would be good to demonstrate the amount of work HighTouch Ministries can accomplish with good support from the ministry and with God's help. We praise God each day for job safety!

The TRFC Executive Director, Ken Beebe, said we saved their ministry $20,000 -- PTL!!

HighTouch Ministries - Digging For Jesus

Welcome to our Blog! This will be a quick, easy way to inform ya'll about the who, what, why, when and where of HighTouch Ministries. We plan to post news about each project to keep our friends and prayer partners better connected with our various projects.


First, we'll tell you (or remind you) who we are and what we do, then you can check out our various projects for more detail, or just for fun.


HighTouch Ministries was founded in 2005 by Darren and Mary Schulz in Longview, Texas as a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. Our purpose is to provide excavation and landscaping services to Christian non-profit ministries. We go where the Lord sends us and take our home and our equipment along.









Since our beginning we have done large and small projects in Texas, Missouri, Arizona, Oregon, and Washington. The work we have completed includes installing underground utilities like sewer, water, electrical conduit, etc., digging out building pads and parking lots, installing or improving landscaping (like ball fields, lawns, water features, ponds, sprinkler systems, etc.), and even land clearing.


We have two methods of financial support: 1) as a non-profit we can accept tax-deductible donations and/or apply for grants to fund our operation. 2) where these funds are not available we can charge a low hourly service fee to the ministry we serve.




Job materials, equipment fuel, and work tool rentals are paid for by the ministry and each place provides a full-service RV hook-up for our home site.



Ministries qualify for our services when they have permits (if required) and funding in place and when they sign agreement with our statement of foundational biblical beliefs. When these things are met, then we discuss the project scope of work and go from there.


In most cases the ministry fills the role of the general contractor (i.e. pulling permits, ordering construction drawings & surveys, etc.), and we provide the labor. In some states we are limited in what we can do by local construction requirements, but we have never been completely limited.



If your ministry has an excavation or landscaping project please contact us. We can send more informaitno and we'll be happy to explore how the Lord might have us work together.



Check out our other postings to see project-specific details.


Blessings and thanks for looking!


Darren & Mary Schulz
hightouch@groundcontrol.us