Hey, Dog Lovers!

Are dogs dear to you? Do you care for canines? Most people—especially those of us who love dogs—would agree that, specially speaking, dog is man’s best friend. But what kind of a friend is man? We have the power to be the sunshine or rain in a dog’s life; what you do with that power is up to you.

And no matter what you decide to do with that power, two things are for certain: 1.) There will always be dogs in shelters and 2.) Any and every one of those dogs would love for you to take them home with you. There’s absolutely no shortage of dogs that could use a good home. That’s why October is National Adopt a Dog Month!

As was mentioned on this Blog at the end of last August (on National Dog Day), everyone here at Everything Summer Camp is a big fan of our own canine companions. That got us to thinking, aside from adopting more dogs, what can we do as a company to help our furry friends throughout the month of October?

We landed on the idea of selling our ‘live love adopt’ T-shirt and donating the 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. The ASPCA is based in New York City and has been since it was founded in 1866.

So get your own T-shirt from Everything Summer Camp in celebration of National Adopt a Dog Month and help us spread the word to increase the awareness of this month. Give your hesitant friend or relative the push they need to make the right decision. Anyone can help get a good home for a dog!

As always, thanks for reading, Blog fans.

- John

Hey, Camp Kids!

Today is a day of thanks and recognition. Do you know what today is? It’s National Custodial Worker Day—a day dedicated to the respect and gratitude of those who take on the custodial and janitorial responsibilities of workplaces, schools buildings, and—yes—facilities at summer camps.

Custodians devote their efforts to maintaining a clean, safe, and healthy environment for us to live in. Keeping entire office buildings, school buildings, and other buildings in custodial care is no easy feat; it takes lots of time, energy, know-how, and patience. Thank goodness for the kind and constant services of our custodians.

To properly express your appreciation of your custodian’s cleaning and maintenances at the building you spend the day in, I compiled a short list of thoughtful ways to show your thanks.

•    The first, most obvious way to show your appreciation of your custodian’s services is to thank them face-to-face. Simply tell them how great of a job they do and how grateful you are of the role they play in keeping your environment clean and safe.

•    Secondly, try to keep the mess you make to a minimum. While you should do this every day, today especially, you should try and keep the areas you occupy as clean as you found them. Some people take on the attitude that it’s the job of the custodian to clean up the mess you make. This is not so. Buildings where people go to work, attend school, etc. constantly require custodial attention. They don’t need extra work from you.

•    Third, get them a card. Sure, a ‘thank you’ is nice in person, but a card really goes the extra mile. Cards are an easy way to incorporate everybody with signatures from everyone in your class.

Be sure to show your thanks to your custodian today and wish them a Happy Custodial Worker Day! Thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Summer Campers!

It seems that no matter which way you turn in Hollywood, everybody involved in ‘show biz’ attended summer camp when they were younger. I’ve written about a decent number of them, but when I look at the vast number of celebrities who have attended summer camp, I realize that I’ve only just begun!

Another name you’ve likely heard before is Jeremy Piven. He’s yet another big-name in Hollywood, an American film producer and actor who went to Camp Chi during his childhood. Camp Chi is a Jewish summer camp, located in the Wisconsin Dells on Lake Blass (not all that far from Everything Summer Camp here in Boyd, Wisconsin).

Quite an accomplished and well-known actor, Jeremy has won the Golden Globe Award as well as three Emmy Awards in a row. He’s also been nominated several times for Best Supporting Actor. Maybe you’ve seen him in roles like Arny in ‘The Family Man’, a salesman in ‘Rush Hour 2’, the Timekeeper in ‘Spy Kids: All the Time in the World’, or maybe you know his voice as Harv from ‘Cars’.

Jeremy may be a big star now, but he grew up like anyone else back in Evanston, Illinois. He and his family lived in a suburb north of Chicago. After his time at summer camp, he found great interest in acting. He later attended the Harand Theater Camp in Elkhart Lake in Wisconsin. During his time at the theater camp, he played Bernardo in ‘West Side Story’.

With a strong interest in acting (and a lot of support behind him), he trained alongside John Cusack at the Piven Theatre Workshop (which was founded by his parents). After that, he went on to earn his degree in theatre at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. He also attended a semester at the National Theater Institute in Waterford, Connecticut.

By the time he was done with school, he was already appearing in movies with his buddy, John Cusack. Jeremy did what made him happy and look what happened to him? What makes you happy? Thanks for reading, Summer Campers!

- John

Hey, Summer Lovers!

Okay, okay, so the summer season may be officially over at this point—but there’s still a flood of beautiful weather to soak up here in northern Wisconsin. To follow suit with the last three Mondays on the Everything Summer Camp Blog, today I’d like to give one last idea for squeezing every last drop of fun out of our fine September weather.

I’ve already mentioned great activities like apple-picking, enjoying campfires, and going on a hike. Lastly, allow me to present you with…

Idea #4: Backyard camping. Sleepovers/slumber parties are a great way to say goodbye to the summer season. Do it up in style and break out the tent one, last time—weather (and parents) permitting—to spend the night in the outdoors before it gets too cold!   

Even if you don’t end up spending the whole night out there, it’ll still be well worth it to share a spooky story or a juicy game of truth or dare before falling asleep in the backyard. It offers the thrill of camping with a fraction of the effort when there’s a clean bathroom and full refrigerator a few steps away.

Brighten up your tent after dark with the great Camping Lantern from Luminaid (available right here at Everything Summer Camp) and you can play cards, Battleship, Chess, and board game you like as long as you have enough room in your tent.

Summer may be over, but you don’t have to say goodbye to camping quite yet. Since we only sleep in them occasionally, tents are inevitably fun and exciting shelters in which to spend the night. Great memories are made inside of them! Who knew the backyard could be so thrilling?

Well, that’s the last of our ideas for summertime activities in September! Good luck wringing the season dry of its fun, Summer Lovers! And, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hi, Neighbors!

The people who live in our neighborhood make up the community to which we belong. If you’re lucky, you appreciate your neighbors, you get along with them, you might even consider them your friends. Good neighbors are there to play with, to lend us things, to give us advice, and to get our mail in when we’re on vacation. Today we celebrate the people in our communities. Happy Good Neighbor Day!

It’s truly great to have good neighbors that you can count on which is why it’s important to recognize the two-way street of neighborliness. Good neighbors beget good neighbors so the more neighborly you are to the people around you, the more neighborly they’ll be in turn. After all, why should your neighbor lend you their lawn mower if you wouldn’t give them a cup of sugar the other day?

I know when I was growing up, we were incredibly close in particular with our next-door neighbor. We’d borrow and lend things without a second thought. Of course, because my dad had married the girl next-door, the next-door neighbor was my grandfather. I guess I REALLY lucked out with a neighbor who was MORE than just a neighbor…

But I’m not the only one who had such a lucky find! In fact, families are sort of how neighborhoods began. See, the first ‘neighborhoods’ that were formed, early in human history, were based on families sticking together. Extended families would all stay together in large numbers and move with the weather.

This was the case until people started farming on a significant scale. Such farming allowed people to occupy their time with things other than farming. They did other jobs, built cities, and settled down in communities and neighborhoods.

Things changed when cars and airplanes made traveling a simpler situation; families didn’t necessarily stick so close together anymore. That’s why it’s important to develop a relationship with the people in your neighborhood. You’re safe and supported when you know the people around you. Happy Good Neighbor Day! And thanks for reading.

- John