Empowerment and.. Gardening?

If you could create a new activity at CFA, totally regardless of cost, what would it be?

I have to say that I would love to see a gardening club. I know, I know.. Doesn't sound like the most scintillating choice of hobbies, but the values of a great garden and the skills it takes to produce produce are neat tools for life and perfectly representative of the core value of responsibility. Would it not be cool to eat meals planned by our new-for-summer-2011 Cooking Club with all of the ingredients grown via the hands of a Camp Gardeners Club? Maybe that's just me being geeky, but it excites me to think about youth taking that kind of control over their summer camp experience.

Which, of course, is the whole concept behind the Youth Empowerment Retreat. Not the vegetables, necessarily.. It is an important lesson to teach our campers about core values and living a purposeful life, but sometimes us "grown up" people (hard to envision myself as such, but at least as far as years go, I am!) have difficulty handing the reins over to our younger people. The retreat will focus on finding ways for campers to further their leadership skills not only at camp, but at home, as well. We want to help match the kids to the resources, allowing them to pursue an empowered life of service and giving to others.

So.. you should come!

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