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VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT: ERIC DEMERLY

by Sam Hirt

There are a number of ways to support Camp Tecumseh. Eric Demerly, a carpenter by hobby, has found a unique way to volunteer at Tecumseh in retirement.

For the past two years, Eric Demerly has volunteered his time and expertise to provide a really unique opportunity for some of Camp’s older campers.

The woodworking Newdl (formerly called clinic) teaches kids how to use a variety of tools like the band saw, a planer, a cutoff, a table saw, an oscillating spindle sander, a router table, and more. Campers are getting a special look into a craft that builds skills and confidence in their own ability to make things.

“We’re trying to give them experience in a wide range of woodworking tools that they may not have ever seen,” Eric tells me amidst the sawdust and humidity of the Tecumseh wood shop.

Plus, they’re learning life skills.

Eric put it this way, “you have to pay attention to the details – not that perfection is ever the goal in something like this – but just to work at it to the degree where you’re satisfied with the way it looks at the end. And to be patient with it and work with your hands.”

Eric’s volunteerism at Camp started through another volunteer: his wife Julie. She’s been a volunteer nurse for many years.

I asked Eric how long. He said, “We’ll have to go back. Two of our sons went to camp here and she started when they started camp. Let’s see, Ethan is now 33 and he started at 8.”

Julie’s long tenure as a Camp Tecumseh volunteer helped connect Eric’s passion for woodworking with a new volunteer opportunity.

And Eric thinks others should volunteer as well. “It’s all about paying it forward, I think. I had a lot of mentors in my life, throughout my professional career and in my personal life, and I still do. So I think it’s all about paying it forward. Helping each other lend a helping hand.”