2017 Patriot Camp was a big success. We had 88 campers and 19 teen leaders. Our teen leaders were exceptional. A couple of groups teen leaders would have their group say thank you to the presenters each time the bell rang and it was time to rotate. The teen leaders would pull a few of their kids out and sit on the lawn and help them learn the Patriot challenge.
LaDawn Stead and Anissa Wardell have helped from the very beginning. We didn't even have a meeting this year. We mostly planned through texts and the adults come and work hard and make it go so smoothly.
We were so glad to have Cammie Nebeker back as a teacher. It was Cammie's vision to get this started in Midway 5 years ago. Nancy Hart was another of our gifted teachers.
Jenny Cook usually leads our singing but she went to New York this summer so Kristen Sorensen stepped in at the last minute and did such an awesome job.
My neighbor Mary Pitts came and talked about women heroines. She is a motivating story teller.
On Tuesday I got home from Patriot Camp at 1:00 pm and there was a bank robbery at the Midway bank just a few feet away from our camp at 2:00 pm. The robber ran down the lane of our camp and into the neighborhood. So glad it did not happen during camp and that our campers were safe.
One Mother came to pick up her daughter to go to tumbling but she didn't want to leave Patriot Camp! Another grandma told me how much her grandkids loved it and talked about camp each day.
DeVaughn Simper brought his huge collection of flags. It was one of my favorite presentations. He had the campers folding big flags and taught them a love for the flag.
Some of our hardworking team! We are all so busy at camp that we don't have much time to visit.
I wish I had a picture of Julie Knudsen who founded Patriot Camps in Utah. She always comes and spends a day with us helping us at camp. This is her story:
In 2011, my friend, Amy Porter and I heard someone on the radio talking about putting on a Patriot camp somewhere back east. We thought we would like to do that too and Amy suggested we put on a camp in her backyard. Brian Halladay and Kabe Little also thought it sounded like a good idea too but had the vision that it should be much bigger. We decided in May to put it on and six weeks later we started the camp with over 120 campers plus several teen leaders. So many people volunteered to help make the camp great. It was truly inspiring! The next year we added two camps and then another two the following year (I looked it up and Midway started in 2013). This summer we had 10 camps and next summer we hope to have 15-18 camps, three of which will be out of state (Idaho and Texas). It is awesome to see it grow and to see youth who love our country so much!
Pam Fredericks was in charge of the crafts. I got a couple of letters that I was so excited to read but they got lost. This is one to our leaders and it makes all of the time and organization worth it.
I made some mistakes like telling the Sons of the American Revolution the wrong day to come. But it truly was a great event and I will rest up so we can get planning again for next year.
