When campers are asked to describe why coming to camp is important to them, you almost always get answers in two categories: getting to be with other people and a community that is accepting and fun to be around and that sense of relief and relaxation that seems to magically happen as you drive under the welcome sign at the front gate.
The past two weekends, the Dining Hall and surrounding snow-covered hills were filled with campers who attended our Connect winter camps. Connect weekends are centered around all the things campers typically love: fun activities, amazing counselors, and exploring the beautiful places around camp. Many of the same elements of summer camp, there just happens to be cold temperatures and a lot of hot chocolate.
Campers see familiar counselors they look up to. They greet friends who they haven’t seen for months. They breathe easier because they are back in a place away from the stresses of school, technology, and everyday life. When campers come to Connect, they do the very thing that the retreat is named for – they connect. They connect with one another and back to this community that cares deeply for them.
Though these campers are only here for roughly 42 hours, this is enough time to send them back into the world with a little more energy, peace, and renewal. These weekends are an incredible reminder that no matter the season, camp is a place where people come and leave better than they arrived. Whether this is because they gathered with old friends or made new ones, were centered back in nature, or had a break from their “normal” – the connections that happen here are what camp is all about.
-- Kaitlyn Blend, Program Director
