Carry it Home

"What you do in here, fill the streets out there." - The Song "Madly"

While that is a religious song that was sung at chapel time at my previous camp I worked at, those lyrics always stuck with me. If is so hard to take we do at camp and apply it to the outside world. The lessons learned like how to care for others, being responsible, etc... I find myself taking something different home with me every year to fill the streets of me life. My first year at CFA was to work hard and set high expectations not only for others, but for myself. The second year was to love blindly. Now this year I am trying to take home the ability to let others (besides my family) love me. It is something that I learned and saw at camp, letting others love me for who I am.

Now you had to learn something while you at camp. Maybe you learned a lot. Its hard to take a lot home with you and sometimes when you try to take so much you end up carrying more than you can handle and you end up dropping everything. If you can carry everything home that is great, but if could choose one thing that you take home what would it be? The confidence you gained? The feeling of knowing that you are loved? The satisfaction of helping someone else? The ability to be yourself?

Once you make it part of your life people will see the difference in you. You won't even have to tell them about it. I tell the counselors if they complete a whole summer it will change them forever and that people will be able to tell that they are different in a good way. They have done something not many people in the world are capable of. It changes them. Camp changes them.

So what is the thing or things that camp changed in you this year?

Filling Up Your Cup

I was talking to some other camp professionals yesterday and we had a discussion about how do you prepare you campers and staff to go back into the life outside of camp. It was an interesting question. I talked mainly about what we do with staff since most have been at camp for at least 9 weeks.

What we do is we have personal conversations with all of them about how their summer went and if there is anything they need help with outside of camp once camp is over. Most tell me no that they don't need any help after camp but some do and we try to be as helpful and supportive as possible. Whether it be rides to the airport or just advice on what is happening in their life. We want them to know that they are part of family that will be there for them as long as they keep making the right choices.

We also throw a staff party where we take them all out to dinner and we watch the staff video. They also get a staff picture, a staff gift (a picture frame this year) and a summer staff blue bead. We hope that this gives them closure to what they have experienced and accomplished.

What we hope to prepare our staff and campers for whenever they leave is how to fill the emotional cup or bucket or whatever else you want to fill. We emphasize the core values at CFA and we hope both staff and campers learn those and realize how good it makes you feel in Spirit, Mind and Body when you follow those core values.

A lot of campers and staff go home and lose that camp fire of just feeling good inside. They lose that sense of community and real friendship. I know I did whenever I was a camper and staff member. I finally figured out what to do about it. I went out and searched for my own community to make a difference in. In high school I joined a youth group and in college I started writing for my college newspaper. So go out and find a community where you can use the skills and values you learned at camp in. It will help you keep your cup full and a smile on your face.

Here are some other things that might interest you in keeping that cup full:

Join Habitat for Humanity
Serve food at a homeless shelter
Volunteer in a organization that you are passionate about
Do more chores than you are required to around your house
Talk to people that you don't normally do at school
Start a new hobby

Do you have any ideas for how to keep your cup full?

Remember to live, laugh, Love and look up

Ryne

Miss you already, summer. (With videos galore!)

What a brilliant summer we had at CFA. Most staff have moved on; a few remain to throw their hearts into retreats for the next two weeks. The Magical Back Room in Strong Hall has been tidied and organized and the millions of fun things in there all await Summer 2012, to emerge for theme nights and dances and fairs. The horses are enjoying a brief respite for the month of September. Our staff shirts are washed and folded, to be worn on days other than those which they were intended for— the red "Caring" shirt on a Tuesday!? Sacrilegious!

As we gather our thoughts and lives together from the bustle of summer, enjoy the eight session videos, produced almost entirely by our wonderful "Video Guy," Stephen Salas. Even as the voices of summer fade from the kickball fields and the triangle, we can relive some of the fun thanks to YouTube.

















See you soon, friends & family!

Taking It Apart: Core Values

All YMCA programs have a strong emphasis on the values of caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility. Adopted formally by the YMCA of the USA in the early 1990s, the four core YMCA values were developed to help teach participants right from wrong.

Caring: To love others, to be sensitive to the well-being of others, to help others.

"Where there is love, there is life." Gandhi

Honesty: To tell the truth, to act in such a way that you are worthy of trust, to have integrity; making sure your choices match your values.

"Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom." Thomas Jefferson

Respect: To treat others as you would have them treat you; to value the worth of every person, including yourself.

"You don't have to be handicapped to be different. Everyone's different." Kim Peek

Responsibility: To do what is right, what you ought to do; to be accountable for your behavior and obligations.

"The time is always right to do what is right." Martin Luther King, Jr.

The San Antonio YMCA adds a 5th value, Faith.

Faith: To encourage people to develop their faith and to be a place where people of many different religions can come together.

“Without faith a man can do nothing; with it all things are possible.” Sir William Osler

In the Spirit of Camp,
Allison

The above information was found on the YMCA of Marquette County website.

Erin's Dream Lanyards CFA craft project

Crafters, campers, and everyone interested in doing things for a good cause— check out Erin's Dream Lanyards to get some background information about our newest craft project for summer 2011. Why are we so excited? Check out the following excerpt from the lanyard website to get a taste for this incredible non-profit.

Who is Erin? Erin Buenger was an almost twelve-year-old fireball who lived large. She also fought neuroblastoma cancer for more than half her life.

What is her Dream? She lobbied Congress and raised money privately to increase funding for pediatric cancer research. She dreamed of a cure for her disease. The money raised by Erin's Dream Lanyards goes to support neuroblastoma research through the Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation.

What is a lanyard? A lanyard is a beaded necklace with a clip or hook on the end to hold an ID badge. School teachers, nuclear scientists and hospital personnel are types of folks who wear lanyards.

Every CFA camper will have a chance to create one of these colorful, unique lanyards this summer, and the resulting product will be sent to Erin's mom, Vickie, who has continued her cause to fundraise for furthering research into pediatric cancer. Vickie will be coming out to camp during staff training to share Erin's story one-on-one with our counselors, ad staff, and year-round camp folks, while she demonstrates the process we will be using to make these lanyards. She is familiar with the area, as Erin herself attended Christian summer camp at Mo-Ranch, also in Hunt, TX. After we have completed them, camp will package them up and send them to Erin's Dream Lanyards, where they will be distributed to retail shops and sold, with all profits going to the Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation.

Erin wanted a cure for her disease, not just for herself, but
for the thousands of children affected by cancer. We are
honored to assist her mother in carrying on with her
passion and planning by creating beautiful crafts by hand.

Taking It Apart: Ragger Emblem

The Rag has had a long and eventful life and it has changed in many ways, but it as still an instrument to aid in the building of Christian character at YMCA summer camps. The real test of the Rag is in how its members conduct themselves in the year round program of the YMCA, and in their home, school, church and community. The design of the rag blends four well-known shapes - the traditional YMCA triangle, the square, the circle, and the cross.

You see above the Emblem of the Ragger.

THE CIRCLE stands for the circle of friendship of all YMCA’s and people around the world – wherever they may be.



THE SQUARE represents the foursquare life of a true Ragger: physical, social, spiritual, and mental.




THE TRIANGLE stands for strength because it is the strongest geometric figure known to man. Because of this strength – we have named the three points: Body, Mind, and Spirit – to remind you to keep the challenge that you have accepted for yourself.


And at the center of our emblem and at the center of our hearts – lies THE CROSS. It appears so that we never forget the wonderful lesson that Jesus taught to us through His life – His example and His words.


The above information is taken directly from the Rag Ceremonies.

In the Spirit of Camp,
Allison

Another Awesome Video

Here is another awesome video that summarizes what camp is about really well:



Some thoughts:
-It is a well done video that gets to the heart of camp and what camp does for kids.
-Yes, it is a video about thanking camp directors. Camp directors do tons of work and put a lot of heart and effort into making summer camp happen. They should be thanked for everything that they do (I am one and I not asking you to thank me but I know how hard it is to put a camp together).
-If you could make a video about camp what would you do?