Hello to all of our dear readers…
I know It’s been a while since my last blog post… somewhere in the vicinity of 10 weeks… just about the length of our Overnight Summer Camps and our Day Camp. As you can imagine… and as I will “Wow” you with some statistics in a “P.S.” below this post… Camp is BUSY!!
I proudly played the lead roll on our Twitter action this summer with a team of 6 (2 Staff from each of our 3 Camps) as we posted all sorts of neat stuff, exclusive updates and pictures and retweeted some other fun and informative tweets from other like-minded entities on Twitter. We quickly went from 33 “Followers” to 217 currently… and only a small handful of tweets to 4 shy of 400 to date.
In case you are not following us yet, we are @ymcaockanickon on Twitter. We will keep the ball rolling in to the rest of the year with info from all the other things we do here at Camp!! Follow us!
After a long (and interesting) Labor Day Weekend here at Camp, which included my 9 year wedding anniversary on Sunday, I’ve had some quieter moments to reflect back on the last 10 to 12 weeks.
On Friday, the very last day of our Lake Stockwell Day Camp, I was blindsided… in the most amazing way possible… by the Camp Director, MaryAnn, and her amazing Staff.
If you know Camp, then you know what recieving a Blue Feather, Green Feather or Red Feather means. The highest honor bestowed upon a Camper. It’s reserved for one child from each age group at our Girls Camp, Boys Camp and our Day Camp (separately) and is given out a a very special ceremony at the end of every Camp session. We even have some plaques (the “Indian Heads” you may see in the Dining Halls) dating back to the 1940’s with the names of recipients recorded. The child is selected based on various things that orbit around our 4 Core Values of Caring, Honesty, Respect and Responsibility. Not always the star athlete. Not always the valedictorian.
Once in a while a Staff member earns the honor of receiving one based on the same criteria and elected by the other staff. After a long 10 weeks of feeding 17,880 meals to our Day Camp (Resident Camps excluded) they surprised me in their final closing ceremony of the summer with this Red Feather.
I was asked to come down to the ceremony to help take a few pictures and was handed a camera by MaryAnn. As the Stockwell Village Chiefs called up their own Red Feather recipients I vigilantly took photo after photo to capture these moments. When it all the Villages had finished I positioned myself to snap a picture of the whole scene… all of the Chiefs and all of the recipients… and then Lynne Passerella, our Assistant Day Camp Director spoke as “Princess Stockwell”.
I can’t recall much past the first few words because I instantly knew whom she was referring to and my heart jumped so much that all else was a blur.
“This Staff member cooks countless meals for…”
You have no idea how honored I was. The feeling of respect shown by 90 staff members… with the respect and admiration of over 800 children reflected within this choice… is beyond words. Love in it’s truest form might come close.
I joined Lynne alongside the Village Chiefs and honored Campers in front of the collected population of Day Camp to, what I thought was, thunderous applause and cheers.
Lynne congratulated me and handed me my Red Feather. After the ceremony it went straight in the back of my bandanna… and stayed there for the duration of the day.
Once I had time to sit quietly with my own thoughts, I put this in a bit more perspective. I could not have done any of the things I do without these 4 things at my disposal…
1. The love and care of my family and friends
2. The support and respect of the other Staff and our Leadership and Board of Directors
3. The 4 Core Values as a compass to guide me every day, even in the smallest moments
and last but certainly not least…
4….
This is our 2012 Kitchen Staff…
(back row, left to right) Manuel, Mario, Gary, Nick, Fernando, Kunming… (front row, left to right)… Alma, Dalila, yours truly, Jennifer, Yoga, Xiaomeng.
Without the hard work and support of every single one of these wonderful people… I could not do what I do and certianly not be recognized with an honor like a Red Feather.
In humble fashion, I share this with each and every one of them and thank them from the bottom of my heard for all the hard work, long hours and fast pace we endure here in our Camp Kitchens.
Some of them have been here for the past 3 summers… some for 2… a few of them were brand new this summer. Gary, for one, has quietly been around for decades in varying capacities. My Assistant, Nick, has been by my side for 13 years and is invaluable to me, handling all of the needs at our Girls Camp flawlessly.
Without the Caring, Honesty, Respect and Responsibility exuded by these individuals, whether they’ve been here for 3 months or a decade or more, I would be hard pressed to command a positive, highly productive, respected and delicious Food Service Program here at Camp.
Thank you to everyone who made this 2012 Summer Camp season a huge success in more ways than one!!
Be good…
Chef Jason
(2012 Lake Stockwell Session 10 Red Feather recipient)
P.S… Here are some “Wow” stats from our summer in the Kitchens
Total meals served between all 3 Camps: 72,725
Total meals for each Camp: Ocky, 25,345… Matolly, 29,500… Stockwell, 17,880
We had 184 Meal Time Deadlines to meet, between all 3 Camps, in 10 weeks time… and we never missed a beat.
235 pounds of bacon
8,880 hot dogs served
4,272 cups of yogurt
6,000 apples
25 gallons of sliced pickles
7,920 eggs cracked and scrambled
32,640 slices of American cheese
12,312 of our famous Pretzel Melts consumed