March 2012 - Page 2 of 4 - YMCA OF THE PINES

Camp Friendships

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-03-23T06:46:01-04:00March 23rd, 2012|

My friend, and fellow CIT, Mike, shot me an email last week; “When are you going to write about me?” Well Mike, here you go … After I got that email from Mike, I started thinking about what makes our friendship, and the other friendships we’ve developed at camp over the years, so much stronger than the friendships developed growing up in school and from home. What makes them stand the test of time? I wasn’t able to come up with an answer. Luckily, someone smarter than me had already done the legwork. Michael Thompson is a psychologist and author whom [...]

World Water Day

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-03-22T14:25:51-04:00March 22nd, 2012|

While I was using yet another app on my iPhone I discovered that today was a day that I have never heard of, Water World Day. Of course because I had no idea what that meant I had to check it out. I learned some new facts about our water consumption all over the world. Can you believe there is 7 billion people that live on this planet?! And not to mention there is expected to be another 2 billion added by 2050! Due to our planet expanding very rapidly our demand for resources such as food as water is [...]

Choices…

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-03-21T17:19:45-04:00March 21st, 2012|

Your journey is determined by the choices you make. Your answers are determined by the questions you ask. Your destination is determined by the steps you take. Your future is determined by what you do today. ~ Anonymous

A Perfect Weekend at Camp!

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-03-19T16:54:42-04:00March 19th, 2012|

Yesterday, we had a beautiful day at Camp! We had our first Open House of the session and it was wonderful to meet so many new Camp families. We also had a few returning Campers come out to visit! We had families out on tours, games going on around the Dining Hall and of course there were s'mores cooking, too! I love watching new and old Campers, staff and families all get together to talk about how much they love Camp. Thank you to everyone that made this Open House a huge success. A special thank you goes out to [...]

Just One Sentence

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-03-19T06:03:19-04:00March 19th, 2012|

Last week, MaryAnn, Brent, Gab, Dave, Rich, James, Joe, Keith and I attend the American Camping Association’s Tri-State Camp Conference. This is a week long conference where we get to talk and learn more about what we love… CAMP! After attending many seminars about ways to enhance our programs, the last keynote speaker, Rosalind Wiseman summed up everything we do each summer in just one sentence: Changing lives one summer at a time.

Saint Patrick’s Day weekend…

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-03-18T17:33:29-04:00March 18th, 2012|

Hello folks... Another busy weekend here at the Kitchen at YMCA Camps of Medford. In honor of Saint Partick's Day, my Friday evening "Learn to Cook" class learned how to make Irish Soda Bread from scratch AND the delicious Philadelphia regional treat, Irish Potatoes!! On Saturday we held a "Beef and Ale" style fundraiser here at Camp and served up the tastiest Corned Beef and Cabbage you've ever had!! Also making an appearance for the meal was more Irish Soda Bread. I made 12 loaves on Saturday morning and just about every crumb was consumed. The compliments poured in over [...]

Never judge a book…

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-03-18T16:46:46-04:00March 18th, 2012|

Hello everyone... Chef Jason here to introduce another Guest Blogger. Lauren Correia has been a Camper and Staff at Camp Matollionequay for years. As a Staff member Lauren has held many titles culminating with being our CIT/LIT Director for 3 years running at Matolly. Here is a very sweet little story that I found on Lauren's personal Blog and I asked if we could share it here. Thankfully she said yes!! Without further ado... Ms. Lauren Correia... Isobel Sloan (pictured left) and I (pictured right) had the great fortune of being Camp Matolly's boating directors for the summer of 2008. [...]

Social Media….Twitter!

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-03-18T08:55:19-04:00March 18th, 2012|

So I have shared some insight about Pinterest & Facebook and now get ready to talk about Twitter! I have always considered myself tech-savy, I own a PC laptop, an IMac, and an IPhone, but it was not always this way. I got my 1st cell phone in 2000, but it was issued to me from work (remember the Nokia 6190…even better do you remember Omnipoint?) and I was all-about VHS until 2005 […]

Life-long friendship…

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-03-14T17:03:42-04:00March 14th, 2012|

Hello everyone… This week the Matolly post has been contributed by a guest blogger. Our own Matolly girl, Hana Nobel, has a heartfelt story to share with all of us. Hana has been involved with Camp for quite some time as a Camper and Staff member, as you will discover below. So without further ado… here’s Hana… As a Mohawk counselor and Village Chief, a lot of girls have asked me if they should continue on to camp‚s Counselor In Training (CIT) program. I always tell my campers that in addition to learning a ton about camp, the friends you [...]

Songbooks…

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-03-13T12:00:50-04:00March 13th, 2012|

Years ago, Chris Corona, the Camp Ockanickon Boy’s Camp director at the time, asked me to put together a modern songbook for the staff and campers. To start me on this endeavor, he gave me apiece of camp history that I still hold to this day, the Camp Ockanickon songbook. A Collection of Ockanickon Camp Songs was written by A.J. Ciccone in 1960. The revised copy, which sits in desk, was typed (not printed) in 1963. There are a number of camp songs that have stood the test of time such as, Sixpence, Silver Paddles, Red Wagon, Taps, Tell Me [...]

Monthly Archives: March 2012