Barrytown Conference Center: A “Home Base”

BARRYTOWN, NY – On Saturday, June 18, Generation Peace Academy (GPA) held its graduation ceremony at the Barrytown Conference Center for its 2015/2016 participants, marking the culmination of a nearly year-long program that began last September.

The sixty-five graduates, ranging in age from 18-21, began their 10-month journey at Barrytown last fall, a place Louise Honey, Program Development Manager for GPA, likes to call the group’s “home base.”

“We always begin our kickoff workshop at Barrytown,” said Louise. “We start and end our program here. We kind of consider it our ‘home base.’ We’ve been working out of the Barrytown Conference Center for 10 years or more. It really has all of the elements that we need: dorms, dining, lecture hall, break out rooms, sports field, the grounds, the trails. Everything we need for the program that we’re doing.”

To make sure things run as smoothly as possible for the length of their stay, Louise and her staff work in conjunction with the conference center staff, headed by Hospitality Manager Kate Korda.

“I’m the middle man in the whole thing,” said Kate. “My job is to make sure that everything they need is there. Whether it’s to have rooms cleaned, or an AV (audio visual) setup, or an area of grass mowed and a place prepared for a bonfire. It’s a lot of things, there is daily maintenance and stepping in if there’s an emergency. Basically making sure that everything is there to make them feel comfortable. We communicate back-and-forth; we communicate ahead of time and also during their stay here.”

While Kate is responsible for most of the preparation and planning for such events, Barrytown Conference Center has a team of very capable staff.  Dr. Michael Mickler is in charge of overall administration; Reiko Mickler is the catering and kitchen manager; Robert Pumphrey is the AV coordinator; Carl Verderber is the facilities supervisor; and, Denton Smith is the groundskeeper.

Please consider Barrytown Conference Center for your next meeting, workshop, retreat, bible school. Barrytown can accommodate small groups and groups of several hundreds.