Month: September 2020

The Unique Treasures of Maine

Posted on by Pam Cobb

When we share the unique treasures of Maine, we reveal the value proposition of our magical Pine Tree State.  During this unprecedented pandemic, we Mainers feel fortunate to live, work and play in a state where clean, fresh air, quality water sources and majestic natural settings are just a few of the vast resources that help keep us healthy, happy and safe.  We also live in a state where the elderly nest, millennials ignite and baby boomers find their roots.

There are indeed economies of scale, but there isalso incredible opportunities to embrace “the way life should be”. If one can find the best balance of work and innovation anywhere, they can find it in Maine. Helping our buyer & seller clients to find their best path of lifelong learning and living in Maine is like making the best patch of chocolate chip cookies.  You only want to use the best ingredients (your strategic partners).  Follow a well-crafted plan of action (the best recipe).  Pay attention to the bake time (do your due diligence).  And finally, share the baked goods with the ones you love (the dream home).

If you want to explore Maine, I’m here to help you find your dream home. Also, my real estate partner, Derrick Buckspan, and our REMAX Shoreline team are available to hear about your favorite house recipe and share our best approach about buying & selling  Maine real estate .  We’re here to help you mix up your very best patch! Please feel free to give us a confidential call or contact us @ team@mainepropertysource.com or 207 831 8159

Our friend, peer and camp director of Birch Rock Camp , Rich Deering wrote this guest blog this week and we asked him to put in his contact information. He is a friend to many, lives the BRC motto “help the other fellow” and is the 2020 recipient of the

 

 

Halsey Gulick Award

Thanks Rich!

Love, Aionur

Moving forward – covid camp ‘experts’

Posted on by Alex

We are in demand. We have become an overnight sensation as covid camp ‘experts’. Having been one of the very few camps that opened for campers this summer, many of our professional peers want to know how we did it. What was the magic plan that we used to operate camp with all of the required protocols and stay covid free? How can it help others as they work towards summer 2021? The conversations are engaging and also help us to process our own experience as we grow from this past summer and plan for next season. We are by no means ‘experts’ but we have some good experience to share. Our Maine camp community is committed to helping all types of camps so that more campers can have a great camp experience if what we did can help others we are happy to chat.

We are still riding high on our success, proud of the efforts that we put in and the outcomes that resulted so are happy to talk about the things that we learned and the pieces that did and didn’t work well. We do however caution that what worked for us may not work for others. Our plan was specific to our camp, worked because of the amazing people involved and was supported by our Runoia families. It is still  hard to know how 2021 may shake out and what restrictions will be in place at that time so right now broad strokes are the planning way to go. We also clearly see that not everything that was successful for us at Runoia will work for other programs. 

Before heading into our 2020 summer we educated ourselves as best we could and learned an awful lot of new information. From reading and absorbing endless amounts of literature,  listening to medical professionals who as camp parents really understood the context of what we were trying to accomplish and also from having a staff that totally bought into providing our campers with the best experience possible under the circumstances we were able to devise a plan that would work for us. Even when there were day to day changes in advice and protocols we stayed true to what we believed were the best options for Runoia.

As schools now struggle through the fall semester we see plans instigated then modified with a population that is far less containable than camp. With hybrid models and distance learning being a reality for many students we wonder what kind of emotional shape our kids will be in by next summer. School is hard right now, teachers and administrators are doing their best and trying to provide for all children, meet curriculum requirements and follow state mandated protocols. I can navigate the management of a whole camp a lot easier than I can the schedules of my two children in different schools alongside my own job.  Come June camp will be a welcome relief for everyone.

The unpredictable and shifting school year is very disconcerting and the anxiety of a possible school based covid 19 outbreak is always looming. We know that by the summer our campers will be ready for the simple security of being on Great Pond with friends enjoying participating in fun outdoor camp activities. 

As we chat with our peers we remind them to look at what they value most about their camp. The relationships, the beautiful facility, the history and traditions. We must all  move forward with courage knowing that camps can open safely and can continue to provide children with healthy, intentionally developmental outdoor experiences.  We can learn from the experiences of this past summer and be ready for an amazing season in 2021.

We can’t wait to celebrate Runoia’s 115th season.

Collect Loose Change – Start Now!

Posted on by Pam Cobb

Camp Runoia families’ efforts to collect loose change from their homes, autos, drawers,
dresser tops and neighbors is making a difference in

Maine. Thanks to our campers who arrived with their change purses filled, and in some cases baggies full of coins, AND those families who mailed in their collection, we were able to raise $344.90. Matt Hoidal and his vision at World of Change WOC has made giving as easy as this

  1. Collect loose change from around your home, vehicles and from relatives
  2. Bring it to camp
  3. We combine it all and Alex delivers it to WOC
  4. WOC partners with organizations in Maine (and other states for other organizations donating).

This is the second summer Runoia collected and donated to WOC as well as our December holiday gift on behalf of our 2019 campers and families. Our donations have contributed to feeding people, providing school supplies, supplying beds to children who sleep on the floor, and more. Check out what WOC is doing and where your change goes.

Our 2020 donation was donated to The Locker Project. From TLP’s website :

Maine has the highest child hunger rate in New England and one of the highest in the nation. One in five Maine children regularly experiences food insecurity. One in three students in Cumberland County and more than half in the Portland schools are at risk of going hungry.

See how The Locker Project is managing to operate with donations and volunteers during the pandemic.

Be on the look out for reminders to collect change for next summer and find out how you can start your own collection in your community with WOC’s ideas about birthdays, Bat Mitvahs, school and business collection sites.

Last year we were able to provide backpacks and school supplies as well as one bedroom set for two children. This year we are feeding many children. Thank you for those of you who collected and contributed to make a difference. It feels good to provide food and meals to children who are food insecure and help to support them to have the band width to learn and participate in education without being hungry.

Love,

Aionur

 

 

 

 

Home School, Remote or Hybrid Learning – Runoia Can Add to Your Daily Schedule

Posted on by Pam Cobb

Trending across US education are hybrids of remote learning, home schooling and some in-person connection at schools or pop up play spaces. Let the experiential education of camp layer into your school year with these great tutorial videos from counselors. Last spring Camp Runoia staff put together about 20 videos of easy to do at home projects including science, crafts, exercise and more. You can find them all on the official Runoia YouTube channel.

Build in Break Times During Your School Day

Building exercise breaks into the school day helps increase attention and creates more brain space for learning! Fit in a break during the day by having Kara teach your children a yoga class.

Cooking is also a fun break and involves, following a recipe, measuring, learning about stove safety and more. Check out Jen and Natalie’s fun baking moments on the Runoia Youtube channel.

Craft Ideas – Stimulating Creativity

Crafts involve planning, organization and coordination – great skills. Get your Runoia “building lifelong skills” action happening by checking out our craft ideas on Youtube. Simple crafts from things around the house – join Callie to see what you can do with TP tubes or get more involved (pre-order supplies) macramé with “K” or nature imprints or marbled paper with MacKenzie. Abbie shows how to make a pipe cleaner flower, too!

Science Applied to Camp and Life Experience

Baking comes up again in the science category as does CJ’s 24 hour Egg Osmosis experiment. And, check out Ruby’s Best Paper Airplane Ever –add in some physics lessons about aero-dynamics and physics with this Scientific American article and learn how Bernoulli’s principals also apply to how a sail boat’s sails involves lift and how it harnesses the wind to move a boat forward.

Challenge your daughter to sing (and or learn and sing) Out on the Blue Waves – one of our favorite sailing songs at camp.

Love,

Aionur

The New Normal with Help from Comfort Food

Posted on by Pam Cobb

Okay. You’ve got your new normal plan for the day.

  • Early morning workout (earns the comfort food!)
  • All children are set up at their remote learning stations.
  • Recess and snack breaks and lunch are planned.
  • Dinner menu is in the works. Maybe.
  • Now dive into work and get as much done before you get interrupted and/or the school day is over.

And…what will we do after school today?

Let’s start with some fresh air and outside play.

Everyone can help fold the laundry.

Fall kitchen fun engages, educates and puts food on the table.  Food transitions from summer to fall is fun and refreshing.

We need comfort food now more than ever.

Start this apple crisps in your oven during the school day.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Thinly slice one apple per person. Leave the seeds in as it’s easy to eat around them. For four apples, toss with 4 teaspoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Take out a baking sheet and place a rack on the sheet, lay out the apple slices on the rack so they are not touching. Flip after an hour, check again an hour later. Will take 2-3 hours. Remove from oven when they are dry but still bend. They will continue to crisp after baking.

Try Bon Appetite’s salt and vinegar potatoes -a great twist on the roasted potatoes we all know and love.

And as a side for tomorrow night, the cheesy baked zucchini helps with the prolific zucchinis in your summer garden and involves the kids with cooking. Try Wholesome Yum’s zucchini gratin recipe making a fab low carb side for dinner. Looking up the definition of au gratin will even enhance their French skills! 

We sure miss camp food, wholesome, readily available, on time and prepared for us. Meanwhile, we can do this: plan, prepare, pivot. Repeat.

Hang in there!

Love,

Aionur

 

 

 

 

 

 

How Camp Helped Us Prepare for Teaching This Fall During COVID

Posted on by Pam Cobb

We hear great news from our teachers, now teaching on the front lines as essential workers in schools. We are grateful for their efforts at camp, helping Runoia have a successful summer, and even more grateful that they are navigating the ever-changing education landscape of teaching during COVID times.

Our Runoia teachers have shared with us about their camp experience and how it has helped them to prepare for being back at school. They feel much more prepared for COVID protocols and have less fear than their teaching cohorts who have yet to experience work with COVID protocols.

Although hand washing sounds so basic, it has proved to be an excellent practice. And, it takes repetitive practice to make into a habit. Our Runoia teachers landed back at school with a routine of mask wearing, hand washing and sanitizing and surface cleaning. They also have helped institute systems in their schools for using things like books and then putting the books in a quarantine area for 3 days. Simple things like getting children to wash hands, cover their cough have come in handy going back to school. Also, knowing and monitoring symptoms of COVID comes second nature to them now, etc. We are so impressed with their efforts.

We are happy to have help prepare both teachers and students alike to dive into the school year. Whether back to school includes hybrid, online or in-person learning and teaching, #Runoiagals are ready to roll!