Facilities Archives - Page 2 of 5

School In Disguise

By YMCA of the Pines|2013-01-22T12:38:25-05:00January 22nd, 2013|

I recall Wayne Holmes saying, “Wouldn’t it be great if you could just go to camp all year? I mean, camp is school in disguise, but way cooler.” Well, Wayne, apparently you can. The coolest head of school seems to be in Fort Worth, Texas at the Trinity Valley School, “an independent-college preparatory school with the mission of providing students with academic and character development.” Gary Krahn, PhD, advocates for the need for school-camp partnerships and the importance of exposing students to the outdoors in to meet new people, develop relationships, and confront new situations. Students under Krahn participate in [...]

Top 10 Camp Movies of All Time

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-10-16T12:05:31-04:00October 16th, 2012|

So, Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom was just released on DVD and Blu-Ray last week and as an avid movie-watcher of any sort, camp movies in particular hold a special place in my heart. I decided to share my Top 10 Camp Movies of All Time with the rest of the nation. And yes, this is the child-friendly list. We will leave Jason Voorhees off for now. 1. Meatballs 2. Heavyweights 3. Earnest Goes to Camp 4. Camp Nowhere 5. The Parent Trap (1961) 6. Moonrise Kingdom 7. The Great Outdoors (not really camp, but camping all the same) 8. Indian Summer 9. Addams Family [...]

Another beautiful union…

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-09-16T18:29:06-04:00September 16th, 2012|

Hello all… This weekend, Camp hosted another wedding at the Matollionequay Dining Hall. We couldn’t have asked for better weather and a more beautiful and serene day overall. Congratulations to Mitch and Pamela on their union and thank you for sharing your special day with us. […]

Family Camp …

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-09-11T07:18:54-04:00September 11th, 2012|

Apologies for being out of touch for a little while. I wanted to share with everyone some of the remarkable things that happen at camp when things don't go as planned. Last week over 45 families chose to spend their Labor Day Weekend here at Ockanickon for our bi-annual Family Camp. There was swimming, boating, challenge course, Gaga, and more. One of the less glamorous side notes to operating a facility like this is our use of water. While at camp guests take showers, brush their teeth, hydrate, and go to the bathroom. On the Ockanickon side of the property, we [...]

Signs….Signs….Everywhere Signs

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-06-02T13:35:38-04:00June 2nd, 2012|

This past week I learned how to use what I consider one of the coolest machines we have at Camp….The router. The router is primarily used to make all the signs located around Camp. I personally feel like we cannot have enough signs around Camp, so this week I started to make some new signs. Below are just a few pictures of my sign experience:

Cherokee Beach…almost ready for swimming!

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-05-26T13:17:16-04:00May 26th, 2012|

This past week, Cherokee Beach received some huge upgrades to help facilitate an increase in both Lake Stockwell Day Camp and our Membership program. Huge thanks to Dave, Paul, and Rob for installing our newest water inflatable (check the picture on the May 21st blog posting) & Jamie and Chris for spending hours clearing brush to open up the whole entire beach area. Also the Haddonfield Y’s Men who helped build our new playground and over 22 tons of new sand which was spread around both the beach and the playground. Looking for a great place to spend your weekends this [...]

Scrap to Treasure…

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-05-06T07:36:47-04:00May 6th, 2012|

Hey everyone!! Did you know... back in the kitchen here at Camp we are beginning to compost our fruit and vegetable scraps? When feeding the volumes of people we feed we produce peels and trimmings from cucumbers, lettuce, cantaloupe, tomatoes, onions, etc, etc... and we thought it was high time we start turning those scraps in to treasure!! Compost!! My Assistant, Nick and I have prepared a rudimentary area for the process and have revived 2 old composters that Camp had hanging around, collecting dust. Our hopes is that we can produce some quality usable compost for distribution around Camp's various [...]

Semper Paratus….Always Ready

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-05-05T15:07:17-04:00May 5th, 2012|

This past Friday I had the great pleasure of welcoming the local US Coast Guard Auxiliary to YMCA Camp Ockanickon. The purpose of their visit was to do safety checks on camps canoes, rowboats, PFD’s, paddles and oars. Established by Congress in 1939 under title 14, §§ 23of the U.S. Code, the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary is Semper Paratus…Always Ready. There are over 30,000 members of the US Coast Guard Reserve and they perform a variety of services to protect our waterways each year. The Auxiliary performs: Safety and Security Patrols Search and Rescue Mass Causality or Disasters Pollution Response [...]

Roll Up Your Sleeves!

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-04-28T17:34:42-04:00April 28th, 2012|

Thank you to all the amazing volunteers for coming out to Camp this weekend...braving the cold.... and getting their hands dirty to help make Camp a little better! Without your support, we would not be able to be who we are everyday. Please head over to; http://www.facebook.com/camp.ockanickon and check out my RUYS video hot off the press!

Green Grass Grows?

By YMCA of the Pines|2012-04-22T16:50:00-04:00April 22nd, 2012|

What helps make grass grow at Camp? Well….dirt, seeds and lots of water! This past week we got a major upgrade at the Camp Ockanickon landsports field. We hope the addition of underground sprinklers will help make the grass grow before hundreds of campers make their way out before the summer!