March 2012 - Page 3 of 4 - YMCA OF THE PINES

Explorers Day!!

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-03-13T04:42:41-04:00March 13th, 2012|

This past Sunday, we held our first-ever Explorers Day at Camp! The weather was beautiful and we had a blast! Our Explorer Campers were invited to spend the afternoon at Camp. After a delicious lunch together (Thanks Chef Jason for the pretzel melts!) we headed out to the Challenge Course. Rich and James were there to help facilitate us while we climbed the Cat Walk and the Multi Vine. We ended the day with a few hilarious games of Gaga! Thank you to all the Explorers that made this day so much fun! Stayed tuned for info about our next [...]

Blue Pride

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-03-12T19:21:06-04:00March 12th, 2012|

Anyone who has ever worked at Camp knows that "volunteering" is part of the job description. Working at Camp is not just a job. It is a lifestyle. It is part of us. It is a calling. That's why I am never surprised when people volunteer to show up when I ask for help. The majority of our staff members are considered seasonal. That means that they work during our Summer Camp season in the summer. Outside of the summer, most of them are students. Luckily for me, Summer Camp alone does not satisfy their appetite for Camp. [...]

Learn to Cook… Week 2

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-03-11T14:04:19-04:00March 11th, 2012|

Hello all!! Well... week 2 of our Learn To Cook class was an absolute blast. With the help of my 2 assistants, our very own Boy's Camp Director Brent Birchler and Gab Ostroski, our Girl's Camp Director... myself and our 11 aspiring Chefs tackled the age old favorite... PIZZA!! We learned how to make dough from scratch and the purpose and importance of yeast in the bread making process. Everyone made their own pizzas in whatever creative shape they chose... including one shaped like a heart and one shaped like a goldfish!! Topped with sauce and cheese and baked to perfection... we [...]

Social Media….Facebook!

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-03-10T12:57:18-05:00March 10th, 2012|

Okay…here is the brain-trust behind how we use Social Media….Rich, Jason, Keith, Ruben and myself all sitting in a room talking about how great we think Facebook is and how we can use Facebook and other forms of Social Media to help spread the word of Camp. So, we realized we have three Facebook pages, one for friends, one for people to like us, and one for Alumni. We also realized that each page has different followers so we needed to come up with three different messages. Some messages would be the same (program/staff announcements) for our friends, some would [...]

Goodbye Winter?

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-03-08T09:20:46-05:00March 8th, 2012|

Today is such a beautiful day. The sun is shinning, the birds are chirping, the wind is blowing, and today’s high is 70 degrees! This weather has really got me thinking about summer camp and how much I can’t wait for it to start. There are only 108 days until our Day Campers arrive Monday morning to begin what has yet to be the best summer in Lake Stockwell history! One of my favorite things about Day Camp is being at what we call “the road” every morning. Greeting the campers each morning puts a big smile on my face [...]

A Thought Of The Day…

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-03-07T14:12:30-05:00March 7th, 2012|

Tomorrow: He was going to be all that a mortal should be Tomorrow. No one should be kinder or braver than he Tomorrow. A friend who was troubled and weary he knew, Who'd be glad of a lift and who needed it, too; On him he would call and see what he could do Tomorrow. Each morning he stacked up the letters he'd write Tomorrow. And thought of the folks he would fill with delight Tomorrow. It was too bad, indeed, he was busy today, [...]

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-03-05T08:51:45-05:00March 5th, 2012|

The children at School's Out at Chairville School had an awesome day on Friday, March 2nd! They celebrated Dr. Seuss' Birthday with a pajama party, hot chocolate and special treats! They even made some Lorax Masks! “Be who you are and say what you mean. Because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” ― Dr. Seuss

Green

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-03-04T14:20:10-05:00March 4th, 2012|

There are no words to describe the emotion inside the Church of St. Gregory the Great at the funeral mass for Isabelle Tezsla on Friday afternoon. Amidst the hugs and tears, there was an overwhelming presence of strength and love that was felt by everyone in attendance. The whole community leaned upon one another for support to get through the heart-wrenching service. Many of the attendees, mostly Isabelle's friends and classmates, dyed a lock of their hair green for the ceremony. It was explained during the service that green was Isabelle's favorite color. When it was time to go back [...]

A busy weekend around the Ockanickon Dining Hall!

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-03-04T12:15:59-05:00March 4th, 2012|

Hello all… We have had quite a busy early March weekend here at the Ockanickon Dining Hall. Besides having two groups of students come through Camp for a few days… about 50 from Rowan and 60 from Camden Catholic… we also ran two unique cooking classes!! […]

Social Media…Pinterest

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-03-03T12:26:42-05:00March 3rd, 2012|

Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of sitting in the same room with Ruben Castro (Our IT Director), Keith VanDerzee (The boss), Jason Ostroski (The Chef), and Rich Rinaldi (The smartest Internet guy) to talk about how Camp should use its social media. The purpose was to try and figure out the best ways for Camp to use Facebook, Twitter, out Blog, and our Website so that our Camp community could stay informed about what was going on at Camp. From this conversation, we learned about a new social media site called Pinterest. I had never heard about Pinterest [...]

Monthly Archives: March 2012