my dream of an fcc family camp, the back story
last summer the kids and i attended part of an fcc camp in new jersey when we were visiting sarah and her family. it was a culture camp that had some components of a traditional summer camp- canoeing, and horseback riding , along with crafts. i talked to several people who made it an annual tradition and had pals there that they only saw at camp since they lived in different states. they spoke of what a wonderful connection it was for them and how they looked forward to camp every year.
an idea started brewing in my mind. we needed something like that. not culture since we have so many cultural opportunities here for that between woodstock an the heritage camp that happens in salem every year. i wanted to create a camp with traditional activities for fcc families. i decided to recruit kelly to help me and the idea took off. after considering all the close in camps,i opted for namanu since i love it there, and it is a beautiful site. after several trips out to scope it out, i picked a weekend and rented the site. kelly and i started generating ideas, forms and a website. we picked a date to open and close registration. we decided on a price based on the idea that we would get 50 paying customers. i met with lorax ( margaret eng) to generate some ideas, and she blew me away by volunteering to be our camp director and bring high schoolers to volunteer for the weekend. what a gift.
many meetings later we had the shape of camp formed. when registration closed we had 133 people. i was stunned. i had to call some families to see if they were willing to take a more rustic cabin since we exceeded the cushy cabin capacity. i got 2 old ods pals to come and offer their support and services- music and tye dye. we planned the menu, we planned the crafts, we made signs. we plotted the schedule.
finally october 1 arrived. we had a great weekend weatherwise. there is no place more magical than namanu on a sunny day...
as the dusk fell, families streamed into the camp.kids adopted from china ranging in age from 1 to 14 came accompanied by parents and siblings. the fun began with a campfire and didn't stop until the tree planting ceremony. i was overwhelmed with the sense of what a magical connection we made. for our kids for ourselves and for our community.
people are already asking about next year.
an idea started brewing in my mind. we needed something like that. not culture since we have so many cultural opportunities here for that between woodstock an the heritage camp that happens in salem every year. i wanted to create a camp with traditional activities for fcc families. i decided to recruit kelly to help me and the idea took off. after considering all the close in camps,i opted for namanu since i love it there, and it is a beautiful site. after several trips out to scope it out, i picked a weekend and rented the site. kelly and i started generating ideas, forms and a website. we picked a date to open and close registration. we decided on a price based on the idea that we would get 50 paying customers. i met with lorax ( margaret eng) to generate some ideas, and she blew me away by volunteering to be our camp director and bring high schoolers to volunteer for the weekend. what a gift.
many meetings later we had the shape of camp formed. when registration closed we had 133 people. i was stunned. i had to call some families to see if they were willing to take a more rustic cabin since we exceeded the cushy cabin capacity. i got 2 old ods pals to come and offer their support and services- music and tye dye. we planned the menu, we planned the crafts, we made signs. we plotted the schedule.
finally october 1 arrived. we had a great weekend weatherwise. there is no place more magical than namanu on a sunny day...
as the dusk fell, families streamed into the camp.kids adopted from china ranging in age from 1 to 14 came accompanied by parents and siblings. the fun began with a campfire and didn't stop until the tree planting ceremony. i was overwhelmed with the sense of what a magical connection we made. for our kids for ourselves and for our community.
people are already asking about next year.
posted by chris at
5:12 PM
1 Comments
