AN UPDATE FROM THE ANTIOCHIAN VILLAGE |
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James, one of our Assistant Camp Directors, has been working tirelessly to refresh our website. After a full summer of virtual camp, we found ourselves with a plethora of content that can be used year-round by anyone in the world! James went back to square one, reorganized content, and each of the 50+ pages on our website have been redesigned. The structure of the website has also been reorganized in order to improve its usability and accessibility given the addition of so many new resources! |
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Some of the new pages to check out on our website are:
Take the time to visit our website and see all of the new additions that we have made!
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A special thanks to Joe Samra and Jamil Samara. Joe Samra has been donating his time to run the Antiochian Village website for the past six years. He originally developed and designed the Antiochian Village website and currently assists with website design, troubleshooting, and management. Joe was a camper from 1992-1995, a CIT in 1996, a counselor from 1997-2000, and AV Media in 2001. Without him, the Antiochian Village website would not be what it is today. Jamil Samara works at the Department of Internet Ministries for the GOA and continually provides himself as a resource for the Antiochian Village website in regards to server management and performance. Jamil was a camper from 1987-1996 and a counselor from 1997-2000.
We are always looking for ways to improve effective communication and resources for our camper families. If you have feedback regarding the website, and how we may improve user friendliness and accessibility, please let us know. Feedback is always welcome!
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VIRTUAL WINTER CAMP
with Fr. Nick Belcher
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We can't wait to see you at Virtual Winter Camp this weekend! Join us this Saturday, February 13th at 2 PM EST via Zoom!
Our keynote speaker, Fr. Nick Belcher, will be speaking about "Having Endurance During a Challenging Time". Virtual Winter Camp is free of charge and no registration is necessary. You won't want to miss this fun, engaging, and spiritually nourishing afternoon!
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Fr. Nick serves as the assistant to His Eminence Metropolitan JOSEPH and as interim pastor of St. George Church in Little Falls, NJ. He is a longtime session priest, and a former counselor and head counselor. |
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ALUMNI VIRTUAL HANGOUT
with Fr. Nick. Belcher
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Fr. Nick will be back on Sunday, February 14th at 6 PM EST via Zoom to host our February Alumni Hangout. There is no need to register or RSVP. Extend the invitation to all of your Village friends and family! We are looking forward to seeing you virtually!
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The Counselor In Training (CIT) program at the Village is a wonderful way to learn leadership skills, and prepare to potentially become a staff member one day. Applications for the program are due on March 1st! If you would like to apply, please ensure that your application and references have been submitted by the deadline. If you have any questions or need assistance, please call the camp office at (724) 238-9565 or send an e-mail to office@avcamp.org.
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These beautiful car pendents, and many other icons, are available in the bookstore!
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Support the Village while shopping on Amazon! Choose "Antiochian Village Camp" on Amazon Smile. This will donate a portion of each purchase to camp! We appreciate your continued support! |
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The Antiochian Village has been in my life since 2011 and I am forever grateful and blessed that AV will be with me for the rest of my life. It has become a cliché, because of how true it is; the Antiochian Village is the people, not a place. It took me a year away from the Village to realize that.
I was a hike camper during session three in 2017 with Mark Sultani as my counselor. After I hiked, I thought I would never be there again. Since I am a collegiate wrestler and was going into my freshman year after I hiked, I truly believed that I would not have the time to go back to the place that was in my life for the past seven years. It was in 2018, when I wasn’t there, that I saw the beauty of the Village. Throughout the seven years I was a camper, the Village was an anchor of my faith. I used it as a place to be rejuvenated spiritually; but, in 2018 I didn’t have that anchor. I realized that if I wanted to have faith in my life I would need to do it without AV. Throughout the year I put it on myself to strengthen my prayer life and go to church when I’m away at school. It was then that I realized the whole point of the Village: preparation. The Village is a boot camp; a boot camp for keeping faith and spreading faith in our lives. The Village prepares the youth of our Church to go out in the world once your time is done as a camper and apply what AV taught you to real life.
The beauty of AV is that it’s only 12 days a year until you are 17 years old, but I said the Village will be with me for the rest of my life because of the people it has brought into my life. When I told the boys who were in my cabin since I was eleven that I wouldn’t be back, I thought that we would not talk anymore. Instead, we talked even more. In 2012 we established Chalet 3 and our cabins were "ole’d" every time we did our Chalet 3 chant; but, we didn’t care. To us, Chalet 3 is a brotherhood in Christ and has kept us together since 2012, giving me a group of brothers that I never had. They are the reason my faith is strong and why I came back as a counselor in 2019. As a counselor I had the ability to give the campers what the Village gave me, a foundation of faith and fellowship that will prepare them for when their time as a camper is over.
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