We have the amazing opportunity to share Runoia with others after the camp season. Although the nights get chilly, the days of late August, early September are bold and filled with strong sunshine. Sunsets come a bit earlier and darkness follows dusk rapidly.

This summer, we had Young At Arts from New York join us for a week-long summer camp. Their campers are performing art students who brought loads of guitars and keyboards, saxophones and microphones and filled Runoia nooks and crannies with practice bands and choral music all week. They also had acting classes and creative writing “Flow” classes, dance classes and acapella singing practice. Our Runoia counselor staff helped run archery, tennis, swimming, ropes, canoe and kayaking activities and the campers loved every minute of camp. Their cabin counselors were graduates from the YAA program plus the youth coordinator from Christ Church (their sponsoring organization) in Bronxville, NY and parent chaperones. The founder and director, Sharyn Pirtle also managed to hire amazing musicians and concert organizers to run the program. The church minister was also at camp, as were his two children. At the end of their week, guess what? They created an incredible performance as their grand finale which was also a testament to their hard work at camp. The confidence and pride you could see in each camper was palpable.

To experience a different group than the Runoia camper group at Runoia felt unique and natural. To witness the growth and warmth from the YAA campers was indeed energizing and similar to our Runoia experience. An August moon and headlamps helped people navigate the unfamiliar camp paths and trails after dark and you could see the smiles lit up in the moonlight. New experiences for many of these campers will make them stronger and more worldly from being in a safe place in nature and learning to love even the random spider that crawled by or the thunderstorm that arrived one evening. Opportunities to share Camp Runoia with others was a great feeling!