Hey, Camp Fans!

This weekend, we continue on with publishing the awesome submissions we received for our new monthly ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest. All entrants after our two prize winners received S’more Bucks (our campy term for loyalty points) for their participation. At Everything Summer Camp, everyone’s a winner. 

The following post is from Alexa T. who wrote in to tell us about her summer visits at Camp Chi! Here’s her submission:

“Hi, my name is Alexa T. and I go to Camp Chi. Camp is one thing that keeps me going all year round, constantly giving me something to look forward to. One of the most meaningful memories I had was on Shabbat. On Shabbat, we do a song session, where we all come together and sing music and songs. On this day, we were early to song session and were told to come back later. It was the last song session of the year, so we were all ready to sing and cry our hearts out. Instead of going back to the cabin, my cabin decided to all lay on our backs in a circle on the tennis courts. We all went around in a circle talking about how much we loved one another and how much camp meant to us. We all started crying because knew in that moment that we all had each other always, and that we knew we had friends to talk to through any sadness or problem. In that moment, I felt accepted, at peace, and at home. It is one of the greatest feelings in the world to feel like you truly belong and know that no matter what, we will always be friends. These girls are not just my friends, but my sisters. Without camp, I wouldn’t be the person I am now. I wouldn’t have met these people that allowed me to be independent and strong person I am today. They give me the strength to keep going. Camp showed me the importance of getting to know someone truly, ignoring all the technology and stereotypes. It provides kids a place to truly be themselves. I will always thank camp for being not just a place, but my home.”

Sounds like you know exactly where you belong, Alexa! It’s wonderful to hear about all the great times you have with all the fun and all the friends you have at Camp Chi and it makes us so happy to hear how much camp means to you! Thanks for your submission, Alexa. To everybody else, if you’re interested in finding out firsthand what Alexa is talking about, visit Camp Chi’s website to learn more. And, as always, thanks for reading, Camp Folks!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

We’ve changed up our ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest, turning it into a monthly deal and we love the stories we got for our first May Contest! All entrants after our two prize winners received S’more Bucks (our campy term for loyalty points) for their participation. At Everything Summer Camp, everyone’s a winner.

The following post is from Melissa M. who wrote in to tell us about her family history at Hayo-Went-Ha summer camp through the generations! Here’s her submission:

“My name is Melissa and my 8-year-old son Dylan is a 4^th generation camper.  Our camp is YMCA Camp Hayo-Went-Ha on Torch Lake in northern Michigan, which was started in 1903. My grandfather was the camp director for many years, and first started working there in the 1960’s. My dad and his siblings spent their summers at camp, joined the staff when they were old enough, and are still involved on the camp board today. My aunt was even the camp nurse in the 90s. My brother, cousins, and I also got to grow up spending summers staying with our grandparents while they ran camp and, eventually, we became campers and counselors. Now I have an amazing son of my own who gets to continue the tradition of ‘growing up camp!’ I feel really lucky to have a shared history with not only my family, but thousands of people from all over the world who love Camp Hayo-Went-Ha as much as I do.

My grandfather wanted all of us to be ‘Keepers of the Flame,’ which means keeping the spirit of camp and the lessons you’ve learned there alive in your heart, even when you’re not at camp. It’s more important than ever to remember those lessons, friends, and connections, because they will last a lifetime. I can’t wait for my son to be a Keeper of the Flame and have his own camp stories and friendships!”

I love your connection to Hayo-Went-Ha along with the rest of your family, Melissa! What a good stretch of history your family has there! It must be so cool now that Dylan is carrying that torch! I’m sure, like you, he’ll make a great Keeper of the Flame! Thanks for your submission, Melissa! To everyone else, you can check out Camp Hayo-Went-Ha on their website and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

We love the stories we got this last month for our ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest—Spring edition here at Everything summer Camp! I’m eager to share what we got with our online community and post each one right here on the Blog! I’ve already announced our two prize winners, Healy W. and Donna J. on yesterday and the day before. Now we’ll keep going for the weekend with this post and one tomorrow.

All entrants after our winners received S’more Bucks (our campy term for loyalty points) just for their submissions. At Everything Summer Camp, everyone’s a winner. The following post is from Henley S. who wrote in to tell us about her summers at Keystone Camp for the last six years! Here’s her submission:

“Hi, I am Henley S. Hopefully, the 2020 three-week session will be my seventh summer attending Keystone Camp in Brevard, North Carolina as a camper. Keystone Camp is a place where girls can show who they really are and not have to worry about being bullied about their inner selves. I love this camp because our motto is “Other Girl First.” To me, this motto means that if I see another girl getting pushed out of the way, I have to bring her with me and make sure the negative situation stops immediately. This motto also means that when someone is having a bad day I reach out to comfort her, instead of making fun of her because she is crying on her bunk. In my cabin during the 2019 three-week session was a new girl. Her name was MC. MC had come from the two-week session, so it was our first meeting. We brought her into our family because we knew she didn’t have any friends yet. In my third year at camp, I met my best friends who have been with me since we first started camp. Their names are India, Maddie, Kensley, and Abby. Two girls joined us in 2018, Taci and Lauren, and we all make sure to keep in touch over social media and text messages throughout the time we are away from Keystone. We named our group chat from 2019 FourWind Farts. I have absolutely no clue how we came up with this name during the three weeks that we were together, but it just worked. Away from Keystone, we love having group FaceTime calls and texting. We have all figured out when the best time to call or text because we live all over the United States: India and Maddie live in Los Angeles, Lauren and Taci live in Miami, Kensley, Abby, and I live in three different parts of Georgia, and MC lives in Cincinnati. See? All over the United States. My favorite parts of camp are the dances held with Camp Carolina and HighRocks, cabin campouts, and our cabin fun night on the last night of camp. I can’t forget about New Years’ and Camp Prom. One of my best camp experiences was the 2017 Camp Prom. My whole cabin went in our bathrobes and bathing suits; we were promised to go to the swim lake after. This was the best night ever. We swam in the lake for what seemed like hours and then stayed up very late, laughing on each other’s bunks. This was a night to remember. My 2019 cabin fun night was also a special night. It was raining cats and dogs and we all thought that our counselors were mad at us and that they were going to make us go to bed super-early. But Jada, our counselor, made us all put on our bathing suits and our bathrobes. We had no clue what was going on. Little did we know that Leah, our other counselor, went to the store and bought us candy and face masks. Later that night, we went to the freezer behind the dining hall. We peeked inside and stole the Oreos. After our cookie robbery, we went to the Pavilion so that nobody would see us eating them. While we were eating them, we sang our favorite songs and just talked to each other. Jada brought up the fact that the next day was Closing Day for the three-week session. We all started crying, but we got one of our last group 'aggressive hugs' from Jada. We laughed and had so much fun. When we finished eating our Oreos, we took off our bathrobes and danced in the rain. It was so much fun, and I will never forget that night. This is why I love Keystone Camp. It will be very sad to hear that it is canceled because of this pandemic.”

Isn’t it awesome all the wonderful pieces of our lives that summer camp brings us? I’m glad that Keystone has been such a keystone in your life! You and the FourWind Farts sound like a fantastic group. I have high hopes that you’ll all be able to get together again this summer, Henley. Keep your head up about the future—who knows what will happen, right?! To everyone else interested in checking out Keystone Camp, give them a closer look right here. And, as always, thanks for reading!


- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

Everyone is looking forward to the summertime! Camp isn’t here just yet, but our excitement certainly is! Yesterday we shared our first place prize winner for our ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest at Everything Summer Camp.   

Today we have the last of our $25 winners. And that winner is….

Donna J.! Congratulations, Donna! You’re our $25 prize winner! Looking through the generations, check out why this summer is a big deal to Donna’s granddaughter in this Grandmother’s camp story submission:

“My story may be a little different coming from a Grandmother and I am one of the camp nurses! My daughter (now 40 years old) began camping when she was 8 years old. She returned each summer through her college years. Of course, beginning as a camper through senior counselor and head of Riflery Camping gave her confidence as she has experienced life through college and being a mom. And yes, all the fun and exciting new experiences! This summer I will again return to camp but this year my granddaughter will go with me for her first summer at camp. She is so excited and so is her mother! Knowing all of the fun she will have and lifelong friends she will make. She has already gone to Mother-Daughter weekend and a Loved it. ❤ Camping at Riverview!!!”

What an awesome submission, Donna! How cool for your granddaughter to get to camp with Grandma! Haha! Sounds like you’ll be a great presence at camp for her first summer stay! Camp Riverview must be a magical place. Thanks for the caring service you contribute for Riverview campers! To everyone else, be sure to check out Camp Riverview for your own future camp stay and maybe you’ll get to meet Donna! As always, thanks for reading!

 - John

Hey, Camp Fans!

We’re changing up our ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest and turning it into a monthly deal as opposed to our previous annual receival. Today, I have our grand prize winner of the May ‘Share Your Camp Story’ edition. Find out right here and right now—the winner of our $100 gift certificate is….

Healy W.!

Congratulations, Healy! You won our grand prize of a $100 gift certificate to our online store. Healy wrote in to tell us about his time last year at Camp Nokomis. Read about his camp stay from last year and how excited he is to return!

“Last year was an amazing year at camp! It was my 4th summer going to camp, and it was just as amazing as every year before it! Camp Noko is awesome, and I love going back every year to see my friends, the awesome counselors, and, of course, the dogs at camp :). I loved doing archery, going swimming, laughing my head off at improv, trying out leathercraft for the first time, and going climbing! Last year at camp was especially awesome because I spent a ton of time with all of the amazing people at camp and I tried a bunch of new things. On Sundays, we have the three C's. Chapel, Chipwiches, and Campfire! Sundays were and always are definitely some of my favorite days at camp. Chapel is just a time when a group of either senior campers, aides, CITs, or staff put together a theme of something like kindness, empathy, etc. and then find songs that the whole camp sings along to based on the theme and they read a story book connected to the theme. Of course there are also chipwiches, which are THE BEST THING EVER!!! They are chocolate chip cookies stuffed with vanilla ice cream! At the end of the night on Sunday, all of the cabins go down to the lakefront for campfire, the third C. Campfire is when awards from activities are given out, spirit awards go out, and the camp sings songs and hears a poem. It's always super fun and calming. Last year, I got my first ever spirit award, and it was for always making sure that camp is a fun place. I felt really proud and happy when I got the award because I try my best to make everyone happy at camp, because camp is awesome!”

What a fantastic summer stay last year, Healy! I’m camp continues to live up to its hype year after year! It’s great that you’ve encountered such an awesome place, great people, and thrilling fun through Camp Nokomis! The food sounds pretty good too; I need to get my hands on some chipwiches! Thanks for your submission, Healy and congrats once more for your first place prize! To everyone else, get a closer look at Camp Nokomis on their site and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John