Dear Writers,

Today is Letter Writing Day! In a world where communication is dominated by phone conversations, electronic messages, and social media posts, receiving an actual, handwritten letter sent through the United States Postal Service means more than ever! Nowadays, the key into people’s hearts…would seem to be through their mailbox.

Whether you write to a pen-pal, an old friend, a nice relative, or some jolly, ol’ elf in the North Pole, there’s no better day than today to put your pen to paper, stamp that envelope, and reach out to someone through your own written words.

It’s fun, exchanging little slices of our lives this way. Unlike social media sites and text messages, a letter gives you an amount of space that allows you more freedom in your writing since you don’t have to choose your words as wisely as you would in, say, a text message or a Tweet. Writing a letter gives you the space to open up and really share your thoughts with someone.

It’s extremely easy. Here’s what you’ll need:
•    Loose leaf paper or whatever paper you have around (preferably not napkins)
•    Pen or pencil—your choice, but keep in mind that pen will not fade, nor will it erase
•    Envelopes
•    Stamps
•    The address of the person you’re mailing

Families tend to stick together this time of year, but, Parents, should your kids be away visiting relatives—PERFECT! Write to them! Just the same as spending time away from home is good practice for every camper’s summer camp stay, writing letters is good practice as well since that will certainly be your main (and likely only) form of communication during their camp stays to come.

Go ahead, folks. Write those people who mean the most to you and tell them how important they are to you. It’s much easier to say in written words what you may never say out loud. So write those words down today and, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Folks!

There are so many different kinds of people in this world to recognize and appreciate. Because there are so many people to recognize and honor, we have a lot of holidays and observances throughout the year; we wouldn’t want to leave anyone out now, would we? Back in May we had Mother’s Day. Then, in June, there’s Father’s Day. And now, finally, today we have Children’s Day!  Observations of Children’s Day date back to before either Mother’s or Father’s Day existed. However, unlike Mother’s and Father’s Day, Universal Children’s Day isn’t so much a holiday as it is a day of global observance. This is a day to encourage children’s welfare and inform one another about the living conditions and rights of children across the world.

While this day is recognized in all parts of the world, lots and lots of nations celebrate it on different dates. The significance of November 20 is that it marks the anniversary of the ‘Declaration of the Rights of the Child’ as well as the ‘Convention on the Rights of the Child’ two historic documents that affirmed specific rights of children and adults’ responsibilities toward them.

The Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) is one organization that really makes a difference for kids around the world. For sick children who need treatment from a specific location, RMHC plays a vital role in helping these kids recover.

They may not be the ones administering the medicine, but they provide housing near a child undergoing treatment to help keep families together during hard times as well as offer financial help and guidance in finding basic medical and dental care in struggling communities. RMHC has nearly 300 local Chapters found in 62 countries!

Unfortunately, kids, you don’t get the day off of school for Children’s Day, but—HEY! Most of you should get a couple days off for Thanksgiving next week! Thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Hikers!

It’s never too late in the year for a vigorous constitutional down a scenic, woodsy trail. In fact, a solid hike this time of year will typically feel even more invigorating than it does in warmer temperatures. Sure, you might need to bundle up a little bit, but this is actually great hiking weather! That’s why today is National Take a Hike Day. Strap on your trail shoes and breathe in the late-Autumn air!

Hiking gets your blood pumping and makes you feel good. Why? Well, there’s more than just one reason because hiking benefits you in more than just one way. Unlike a lot of exercises that require expensive equipment or gym memberships, hiking is free and benefits your body as well as your mind!

Hiking—especially hiking uphill—is similarly efficient exercise for burning calories as jogging is and helps you lose weight. The pressure that hiking puts on your bones helps to strengthen your bone structure and helps reduce the risk of osteoporosis. It tones your muscles and does good things for your cardiovascular system too. Really, it just increases your overall fitness.

But hiking does more than just keep your body tuned up and feeling good. It’s also good for your mind. Incorporating a beautiful trail that twists and turns and leads to new landscapes is a nice little treat for your eyes and eases your head. Treadmills and exercise bikes don’t give you this aspect of exercise. Also, the air you breathe in is much crisper and brings a fresh oxygen supply to your brain, resulting in a happier you.

Most people live within driving distance of cool trails that are just waiting to be discovered and explored by you. Prepare for your outings at Everything Summer Camp; we carry a slew of great hiking gear to help you get the most out of your hikes. From trail shoes to water bottles, backpacks, and Hydration packs, we’ve got everything you need.

Happy Take a Hike Day and thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Kind Kids!

Today we revel in the good will of humanity as it is World Kindness Day. What better reason to celebrate something about ourselves than the boundless expansion of human compassion. Appreciated by everyone, kindness never grows weary, never dies out. It fights the good fight and always remains, standing victorious over the likes of carelessness and greed.

It’s good to be kind. Kind acts spread kindness. But it doesn’t only benefit others. No, siree! Committing random acts of kindness is certainly advantageous to you as well. How can treating others nicely benefit me? you wonder. Well, simple—it makes you feel like a good person! After all, being mean STINKS! It’s no fun to be mean. Much better to see the good in yourself and everyone else whose lives you touch.

In order to help the kindness chain to spread beyond you, I compiled a list of ideas you can use to help make someone’s day by delivering a random act of kindness. If you can put one of these ideas to good use (or an act of kindness you thought of on your own), then you’ll have had a successful Kindness Day!

• Rake your neighbor’s yard along with them. Your neighbor will really appreciate you cutting their work in half!
• Pick up trash. Taking care of litter in your yard or around your neighborhood is a wonderful way to keep your area looking nice. Your neighbors will appreciate it as well.
• Help out around the house. Making dinner or doing the dishes afterward is a great way to pitch in and keep your home a happy one.
• Help keep your classroom clean at school. Your custodian will really appreciate that.
• Bring your teacher a little token of appreciation. It doesn’t have to be an apple, but your teacher would probably love it if it was.

I hope you find these ideas helpful! And don’t forget, while it’s important to squeeze in some kindness today, especially, it’s important to keep kindness alive every day. Thanks for reading.

- John

Hello again, Canine Lovers!

There’s a dog out there for everybody. We all love them and they certainly love us! We all know that dogs are extremely fascinating creatures. When we look into their eyes, we so often see a piece of ourselves. That’s probably why we have a month dedicated to the adoption of dogs in shelters.The beginning of November marks the end of National Adopt of Dog Month (a.k.a.—October). As I mentioned at the beginning of October, everyone here at Everything Summer Camp is a big fan of our canine companions who are already in our homes. And because we love our furry friends so much, we wanted to do something as a company to help spread awareness that October is Adopt a Dog Month.

I blogged about it, but—unfortunately—there aren’t a whole lot of people following a summer camp Blog site this time of year. We also made our ‘live love adopt’ T-shirt to sell and donate those proceeds to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), a non-profit organization which is dedicated to preventing cruelty toward animals.

We did not sell a crazy number of T-shirts. No, we sold six. And, while it may not be a lot, every little bit helps, so Everything Summer Camp wrote a check out to the ASPCA for $52.50 and got it in the mail this morning.  Since we didn’t sell nearly as many as we would have liked, we also donated 100 dog I.D. tags to a local dog shelter.

But just because October has ended and it’s no longer National Adopt a Dog Month, doesn’t mean that it’s too late for you to make some lucky dog’s dream come true by giving it the home it needs or by helping to create awareness. As always, thanks for reading.

- John