Last week, Redeemer hosted our first week of Paul’s Place camp since the beginning of the pandemic. Approximately forty campers and five counselors from Paul’s Place; thirteen teenage counselors from Redeemer; three adult activity leaders; five intrepid adult kitchen helpers; one college camp director; Cristina; and I spent the week laughing, getting lost in the building, asking for more pizza, playing tag, saying thank you, talking, learning about our bodies, making art, reading, writing poetry, and dancing. It was fantastic!
This summer, our week’s theme was “Makers on the Move” (with a fantastic t-shirt designed by Perry Sovich!). The week started out with a trip to the Sankofa Children’s Museum of African Cultures on Monday, where we learned about the history, cultures, and geography of Africa. On Tuesday, back at Redeemer, the makers got to work. Each day campers went to different activities: Arts and Crafts, Creative Writing, Science, Physical Activity, Dance Practice, and Library. In Arts and Crafts they worked with Joan and Thomas to make paper bag puppets, worry dolls, and painted canvases with their own masterpieces. In Creative Writing, Cathy and Ben help them create their own super heroes with special powers (lasers and flying were there, but so were healing and empathy), back stories, and acrostic poems. In Science with Kate and Waverly, campers drew outlines of their bodies and filled them in, learning about ears, eyes, heart, lungs, and more.
And the campers weren’t just making – they were moving, too! Jay ran Physical Activity out on the front lawn – which made for excellent viewing from the church offices. The kids played all kinds of games, some of which led to water being dumped on their counselors! The Library, housed in the Chapel, provided a space for everyone to cool down – counselors read to their campers or supported them in independent reading. Finally, each team of counselors led their group in choreographing a dance for a competition on Friday. Competition was heated, but each team was awarded a certificate: for the most courageous, the most cooperative, the most community-oriented, and the most celebratory performance.
Courage, cooperation, community, and celebration were our themes for the week. At the beginning of each day, our wonderful storyteller, Tracy, would invite us into a story about the themes, encouraging all of us to embody them for the day. And camp requires all of them. It requires courage to step outside one’s comfort zone and try something new or meet new people. It takes cooperation to work as a team, whether your campers, counselors, or members of our kitchen crew. If we are oriented towards our community, we help grow it, taking care of each other. And what is camp without celebrating all the accomplishments of the week?! We celebrated our makers on the move on Friday with pizza for lunch, a tour of everyone’s art, creative writing, and science projects, and, of course, the dance performance.
None of this would have been possible without our volunteers and without the support of the Parish! Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who donated snacks, printed postcards, and made this week possible.
Love,
Rebecca
