YMCA of the USA Camping Update
YMCA of the USA Camping Update
August 2008 - Please end comments, submissions, and subscription requests to: gary.forster@ymca.net (Also read this and past newsletters on-line at: http://www.ymcaexchange.org/front/programs/camping/generalinfo )
First - a deeply felt thanks to YOU who gave of yourselves this summer to provide campers and counselors the love and challenges and skills of friendship that will stay with them... forever. Our problems pale in comparison to that achievement. Enjoy this moment.
A Beautiful Thing - I was at YMCA Camp Lake Wenatchee this summer for a couple of days (it's in the Cascade Mountains, need I say more?) When they have "camper's choice" activities, counselors each stand up and give a short commercial on what their activity/craft project/sport will be. Eric "Maverick" Krueger (all the counselors have camp names) announced he was doing "Cloud Watching" again down at the beach. Kids RACED to get to him first so they could be included. It seems he has them all lay on the beach with their heads together in a circle, and they find clouds that look like different things. So your board members think there's a videogame-driven apocalypse coming? Not if we have anything to do with it!
Give This to Parents Next Summer! - Tina Kelley's front page (above the fold!) article in The New York Times from August 7th - "Dear Parents: Please Relax, It's Just Camp:" http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/26/nyregion/26camp.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&sq=Dear%20parents&st=cse&scp=1 Suggestion: "Register" (it's free) for the NY Times at this link; then you can save the article in a print-friendly version.
An EXCELENT Web Site for Groups & Retreats - Just watch the slide show for a minute and tell me it doesn't answer 95% of the questions a group leader would have... without reading a word. http://www.capecodfieldtrips.com/index.htm Your IT guy could do the same for you with the right photos that tell a story.
ICCP Has Staff NOW - The YMCA's International Camp Counselor Program (ICCP) has college-age individuals that have been recruited by YMCAs around the world. They currently have two types of placements, J-1 Work and Travel participants (available for 3-4 months during the winter season) and J-1 Trainees/Interns (Trainees are available for up to 18 months; Interns are available for up to 12 months. Start dates for both are year-round). Participants can be placed in a variety of jobs, ranging from kitchen management to program facilitation. For more information, please contact your ICCP representative at 888-477-9622 or visit them on the web at: http://www.internationalymca.org/ .
Backyard Camping at the Y - "The staff at the Owen County Family YMCA is pleased to announce our first ever annual YMCA Family Camp Out! Camping without the work!
Tent set-up in the field behind the Y: 5:30-6:30pm Friday evening
Family free-swim time: 5:30-8:30pm
Outdoor and gym games: 6-10pm
Quiet time: 11pm-7am
Pancake breakfast: 9-10am, Saturday morning
Zumba & Yoga Stretch: 9-9:45am 10-11 a.m
‘Break Camp' by Noon on Saturday.
The YMCA will provide hot dogs, baked beans, chips, marshmallows, lemonade, iced tea, and a campfire for Friday supper and a pancake breakfast on Saturday morning. All you need to bring is a tent, lawnchairs, roasting sticks, and bedding.
Diversions planned for the event include: volleyball, swimming, badminton, basketball, corn hole, dodge ball, horse shoes, Yoga, Zumba, and bocce ball.
Showers and restroom facilities available in the YMCA building and in the storage barn by the horse shoe court. Please, no alcohol or tobacco products.
Fee: $30 per family for members, $40 per family for potential members See you at the YMCA!" - for info contaact Laura Law programs@owencountyymca.org
(Still time for your Y to try it this fall.)
For OEE Staff: http://www.meera.snre.umich.edu/ is the location for a new way to evaluate the success of your OEE programs. Take a look now and you may be able to use it this fall. . I asked Jim Parry (Collin County YMCA Adventure Camp, TX) to review the site and survey: "It's very professional. The evaluation method is scholarly, and therefore valid. The programs that have already used it are mostly nature centers, museums, zoos, and parks (e.g. Disney). There's no ready-to-use form; you still need to make your own. But the guidelines are thorough, helpful and easy to navigate. It does not include the "camp" adventure and affective sides (the examples are environmental science oriented), though one could use these resources to include that. In short, it tells you how to do it right, but you still have to do it. There are several examples of studies that could be used to ‘justify' your program to a school official."
Day of Caring - "YMCA Camp Letts was chosen by our local cable company for their seventh annual Comcast Cares Day. Over 125 employees, their families and friends volunteered their time to paint the interior and exterior of our oldest boys cabins and the pool house, built benches and a fire ring, and providing necessary repairs to screens as well as landscaping. Comcast donated all materials and time to prepare for this large project. Comcast Cares day is one of the nations largest single-day corporate volunteer efforts and Camp Letts was so pleased to be a part!" For more information please contact Nelson Bagnardi at 410-919-1410 or nbagnardi@ymcadc.org
Women's Wellness Weekend - "Camp Letts' 13th Women's Wellness Weekend had over 75 participants enjoyed activities ranging from Zen Shiatsu Massage, Feldenkrais, Reflexology, Yoga, and Advanced Skin Care; to Waders and Wetlands (our intro to Ecology workshop), Scrapbooking, Beading, Precious Metals, & Clay. The participants enjoyed speakers for varying topics including Time Management, Credit Counseling and Living Life's Pleasures in addition to traditional camp activities such as canoes, archery and tackling the high ropes course and delighting in our fine cuisine!" For more information contact Kathi Seymour at 410-919-1418 or outbind://18-00000000DE669F32BB222443BF3901797F7CE20007004A8A14C7187ECF45A2818B9F2677118E0000037AFC1F00004A8A14C7187ECF45A2818B9F2677118E0000042536D90000/kseymour@ymcadc.org.
Learn to Ask - Westminster Woods Camp & Conference Center (in Occidental, CA) held a project "campaign" for materials to build a playground. With $100,000 of donated supplies and 300 volunteers of every age their were able to build a fantasy-scape that created friendships that will last lifetimes... and those are just between the volunteers! You don't always need money. As my former boss Bob Neal always said, "Them that asks, gets." Take a look at http://www.westminsterwoods.org/Playground.php
How do we teach "experience?" Earlier this summer, a young camp counselor from a YMCA camp died in a car crash with three other friends on her way back from a day off at an amusement park. Alcohol wasn't the issue; but life experience undoubtedly was. Their car crossed the center line on an interstate highway late at night and ran into an oncoming truck. Several years ago 5 young staff at my camp flipped their car over and ran into a utility pole because the driver turned around to respond to joking in the back seat. A couple years ago Y camp staff died when a young counselor in the back seat asked the driver to turn around and blinded him with the flash from his camera. Parents expect their children to survive summer camp; could we do more to make sure that applies to counselors, too? While your experiences are fresh in your mind, please share with me things you think actually helped your staff "listen to their conscience" instead of peer pressure?
"I pledge allegiance to the Earth
and to all life that it nourishes;
to protect life on our planet,
to live in harmony with nature,
and to share our resources justly;
so that all people can live with dignity
in good health and in peace."
(Recited each day by students and teachers at Kawaiaha'o Church School in Honolulu.) Contributed by YMCA Camp Erdman.
A Legend Passes - Willie Schmidt started on the kitchen crew of Camp Dudley (NY) in 1946 when he was 16. Summers as a camp leader, marriage, a PhD, five children, and 7 years as a teacher preceded his selection as Director in 1974, which he then held for 20 years. . Embarking on his annual cross-country reunion tour, Willie delighted in reaching out to Dudley alumni and recruiting youngsters far and wide. The camp's scholarship program, $25,000 when he started, surpassed $250,000 per summer in his 20 years. How far can one person reach? Rob Howard, AIA, is a board member of Camp St Croix (St.Paul, MN YMCA) His opening reflection at a recent camp board meeting was based on these thoughts: "Willie Schmidt and Dudley have had great significance in my life... a mentor and place that has helped make me who I am." -- (Thanks to fellow St Croix board member Skip Wilke).
TRAINING DATES:
"YMCA Resident Camp Director" - This two-day Y-USA course is for those new to the job, or planning to be resident camp directors and executives. Taught by successful camp executives and CEOs, the "Camp Director University" will run Tuesday September 30th and Wednesday, October 1st at the Upstate NY Program School in beautiful Buffalo NY in the Adams Mark hotel. Look for more info and registration on the YMCA exchange at the end of this month. For details, contact Penny Snell at psnell@ymcabuffaloniagara.org
7th Annual Camp Fundraising Symposium - Dec 9-11, 2008 at Frost Valley YMCA, will include separate tracks for Annual Support and Endowment.
National Y Camp Conference rotation:
2009 - Jan Hosted by "Campfire" at Blue Ridge, NC
2009 - Oct "Western Y Camps" host at Camp Surf, on the beach in San Diego
2010 - Oct Y Camp 125th Anniversary, hosted by NE Y Camps at Silver Bay, NY
2011 - Jan Mid America - "The MACC" are hosts (location TBA).
2012 - Jan YMCA Southwest-Texoma ACA (location TBA).
ACCT National Conference - Houston, TX, February 5-8, 2009 contact sylvia@acctinfo.org and see http://www.acctinfo.org/
Outdoor Education Conference --"Teachers Teaching Teachers: T3 - the Outdoor Nudge" February 28 - March 1 Friday noon to Sunday noon, Collin County Adventure Camp (Dallas YMCA) Contact Jim Parry 469.9525600 jimp.ccac@ymcadallas.org