Category: Camp

The Harmonyville Quilt Project

Posted on by Pam Cobb

We are commemorating our summer of Harmonyville Camp during the 2020 pandemic with an all camp quilt project. This fall I was catching up with my friend and camp director peer, MJ Parry. She is the executive director of Fleur de Lis. She gleaned some ideas from me about how we ran camp during Covid and I picked up this idea of a camp quilt project from her.  The greatest part of the camp industry aside from helping youth and adults stretch and grow and build lifelong skills, is the way camp directors share and pool knowledge.

My co-director, Alex Jackson, and I have talked with numerous camps who wanted to know what we did to run camp safely in 2020. We have been on a panel discussion with through Maine Summer Camps Education Committee to help other directors see a path forward in 2021.  I have been interviewed for a blog with CampMinder, a national online camp information tool. One of our doctors is being interviewed for the American Camp Association’s “Camping” magazine about how we ran camp. We share.

I shared the quilt idea with Alex and she latched onto it with excitement. I asked Alex if she would write a limerick to showcase the quilt project. She is so clever!

The Great Harmonyville Camp Quilt

Harmonyville camp was a blast

Great memories that will certainly last

“Masks up and Let’s Go!”

We soon got in the flow

This quilt will commemorate the past

We came up with the instructions people would need to make their square.  Alex mailed the quilt squares to all the Harmonyville campers and staff so they can contribute their square to the quilt project with the limerick and instructions and some fun stickers on each envelope. We are seeking quilters to help compile the project this winter. The finished quilt(s) will hang in the Dining Hall and Den to remind people that Runoia girls have grit, determination, courage, love and kindness.

Love,

Aionur

P.S. Are you one of the CRH participants who enjoyed camp this past summer? Do you have a square of fabric sitting on your desk or counter top?  Sketch out your design of what the summer meant to you and get it back in the mail to camp soon!, A deadline of December 15 is set for your square to be included so our quilters can quilt this winter. Let’s go #runoiagals!

 

 

The WISCO Girls Go to Maine – guest blog

Posted on by Alex

We were so lucky to have had the WoW (Women of Wisconsin) team at Camp Runoia this summer. Their dedication to overnight summer camp, creating amazing experiences for campers plus a desire to see the great State of Maine generated an epic road trip and a summer for the memory books.

In their own words….

It’s 4 in the morning, still dark, a little damp out, and four people with their summer’s worth of gear are looking at a small Nissan Versa with a determined squint. Collectively, we all understand “it will fit” and spoiler alert: with some very creative packing, it did. A forgotten wallet and an accidental detour later, the WISCO girls were on the road. We had compiled a 12 hour playlist to make the drive more manageable and at some points we took breaks to read listicles. Finally, we reached our layover in New York where racoons stole some baked goods. Again, we piled into the car and were about to finally make it: Maine couldn’t come soon enough.

The WISCO Girls arrived at Camp Runoia greeted by what we assumed were smiling faces, but everyone was masked, so who really knows? We comically unpacked our clown car: more and more things and people seemed to keep coming out. And so it started. Camp Runoia COVID Camp. We had arrived late, so we met only a few people and were herded into Sixth Shack. The next morning, we grabbed our warm beverages and hit the ground running.

Those two weeks of training were a whirlwind. Phrases like, “wash in, wash out” and “masks up, let’s go” continue to run through our brains to this day. Some topics were familiar, standard camp fare we’d been trained on for years, but some new and mysterious things such as The Pix, Pigtail Fridays, and The Soapies were demystified. We met all our coworkers and eventually were separated into our shacks- Emily and Mary stayed in 6th, Kerry went to 5th and Victoria to 7th. 

Our first pigtail Friday!

Once we had been sufficiently trained and quarantined, it was finally time for campers. We could fill a book with all of the wonderful adventures and experiences we had with our Runoia gals this summer, but we only have so much space, so we’ll provide you with some highlights: 

-Being serenaded by 6th shack’s original song “Green Bean Salad”

-2nd Shack’s Wolf Biology Lesson 

-Spooky loon calls

-Playing mermaids in Great Pond

-Attempting to learn Tik Tok dances the kids taught us

-The Talent Show

-A Floating Breakfast

-The Wicked Witch of the East, Bro

COVID protocols which seemed overwhelming at first quickly became second nature. Before we knew it, we were saying goodbye to our campers and packing the car to head home.

In the end, this crazy-covid-clorox camp (as Alex put it in one of her emails to us) ended up being just what we needed during the uncertainty of COVID. While anyone who has attended or worked at any camp knows that being at camp often leads to a summer of chaos, that chaos is predictable, familiar and sometimes even intentional. During a time where the world was (is) so rapidly changing outside of anyone’s control, it was that special predictable type of camp chaos that drew us to Runoia. All of us WISCO gals are scattered around the country now and it’s anyone’s best guess as to where we’ll find ourselves next summer, but we feel very lucky to have gotten the opportunity to spend Summer 2020 on Great Pond with campers and staff alike. 

With Love, 

The WISCO Girls 

Emily, Kerry, Mary, and Victoria 

 

Living Leadership – a unique CIT summer

Posted on by Alex

Providing opportunity for leadership and growth in personal development is a key component of all of Camp Runoia’s programming. Multi age classes and self directed goals allow campers to navigate their own skill development and girls of all ages are given a chance to have their voices heard. Older campers often take on the role of friend and mentor to younger girls and share their skills and love of camp activities with those that are in need of help. Skippers in sailboats, captains of teams, helpers at the barn and other opportunities to be up front all allow campers to gain leadership skills while working on their own goals.

The Counselor in Training program (CIT) is often the capstone of camper years and allows for a very intentional, full summer experience with a leadership focus. In typical summers CIT’s live as a group with their CIT Director and work together in and around camp to build skills. 2020 proved to be a whole lot different. Four amazing young women who were up for a new and evolving challenge joined Harmonyville for a different kind of CIT program. 

 

With the creation of ‘households’ and restricted interactions of groups it meant that in order for the CIT’s to get the best experience of actually working with campers they spent much of their summer living in cabins.  The CIT’s also joined us for staff training and were able to live together during that time and get some very intensive skill coaching before their move to live with campers. It was a very different approach yet worked incredibly well under the unusual circumstances. This group of young women were able to navigate not only the transition from being campers to taking on a more comprehensive leadership role but also having to be separated from their peers and fellow CIT’s. They truly were living their leadership development as they actively engaged with all aspects of daily life in camp.

This fabulous four accomplished so much over their unique CIT summer. Even with a reduced amount of time at camp and additional responsibilities they passed archery instructor training, managed to navigate a socially distanced lifeguard class, made connections with their campers, took classes in child development, homesickness and a multitude of other camp related situations and did it all while maintaining and building their personal friendships. Their growth was amazing and they worked through the hard parts and saw the benefits of being at camp even when it wasn’t what they had originally imagined. They built life skills that will serve them well as they head out into their junior years and begin to navigate what life after high school may look like.

 

We hope that this tenacious group will be back for more Runoia summers. Our counselor staff group will benefit from their skills, capable competence and true Runoia spirit.

Hope for next summer

Posted on by Alex

As we navigate life living with covid 19 and create our own ‘new normal’ managing all of the procedures and public safety protocols, even regular everyday life can get a little overwhelming. It is sometimes hard to see a way forward without taking two steps backward.  We are all living in an unknown time with so many questions about what the immediate and long term future may look like. Information still seems to change on an almost daily basis, schedules are always flexible as schools shift back and forth between in person, virtual and hybrid learning models. Talk of the looming holiday season and how that may look for families is becoming a more current conversation. Making plans for any travel or vacation out of state seems like an impossible feat. We are only able to navigate the present which for a culture that loves a planner and to have life scheduled out is proving very challenging for many.

So how on earth are we ready to open enrollment for camp in the summer of 2021?

The path to the lake is always there.

How do we make decisions when we don’t know what the future may look like? Perhaps it is time to just jump in with hope? Get the puppy, eat the cake and be sure to sign up for camp! We know from our experiences of this past summer that we can create a safe and engaging space for our girls to have an intentional summer experience.

Camp Director colleagues who were unable to open camp this past summer have been keen to chat with us about how our summer went.  They don’t really have specific questions but more are seeking hope for how they can operate in 2021. As everyone has different sites, programs and clientele there is definitely no magic ‘this will work for you’ solution. How we operated Runoia in 2020 may also look slightly different than how we do it in 2021 as we will be another year down the covid road. We talk often about attitude and mindset. Knowing that opening camp and running safe programs has been done encourages others that it can be done at their camp too. Camp Directors are a positive, resilient, creative crowd and are keen to dig into how they can operate safely in 2021. Sharing stories and telling our tale of summer 2020 helps the profession as a whole. The collective hope is that the most amount of campers can safely get to their camps next summer.

Hopefully our Harmonyville campers are telling their stories too! Other kids need to be hearing from their peers that going to camp next summer will be safe and fun. Peer sharing has so much value in generating a narrative that has substance.

We take pride in the fact that 2021 is Camp Runoia’s 115th continuous season of operation. We will definitely be ready for yet another amazing summer on Great Pond.

Garage band – creatively navigating covid

Posted on by Alex

My choir has been singing in a parking garage! We literally drive in, park on one side and then can spread out on the other side so that we can sing together. It’s never something I would have imagined doing.  It’s certainly not the same as a typical rehearsal space. The sound is at best interesting but it at least provides us the opportunity for community singing and some choral experience. We have had to be incredibly creative and intentional with the covid protocols.  Numbers are limited, everyone is 13 feet apart, masks and social distancing are strictly enforced when not on your X and the time is restricted to under an hour. Everyone is on board with navigating the rules and enjoys being together far better than when we are  meeting on zoom. Sometimes it’s chilly and as the nights are getting dark earlier the lighting isn’t great so it isn’t going to be a long term solution moving forward into the winter but it has worked for now. Having a great attitude and out of the box thinking has resulted in a workable solution and an unexpected outcome. I was skeptical at first but it has turned out to be incredibly fun and allowed us to shift out of our usual pattern and engage with each other differently with very positive results.

 

Working from basic goals and using mission based planning, navigating through covid has become a challenge facing many community organizations. While there are often defined protocols and procedures for many operations sometimes you just have to be a bit crafty and do what works best in your individual situation.  It would certainly have been easier to have just cancelled this semester of choir. It isn’t really essential, it’s more a social outlet than anything else and there is no hope of giving a public concert indoors anytime soon so we are not rehearsing for an event. Yet a desire to be together, to maintain our community and to engage in person drove the problem solving and created a workable solution. 

As camps are busy looking towards the summer of 2021 and enrollment is opening up, having a positive ‘can do’ attitude and being able to think outside of the box is going to move us forward. At Runoia we are glad to have had these past summer experiences to build off of.  We feel confident that we can be flexible and navigate covid protocols while still maintaining our camp goals and mission. We want to be part of the solution for camps so that the most children possible get a summer experience that is tech free and engaging. We are planning, thinking, reflecting and know that we will be ready.

We can’t wait to share our 115th continuous summer on Great Pond, creatively navigating whatever comes our way and helping our campers to have an amazing summer. At Runoia we model for our girls that we are resilient, capable, competent and confident. Summer camp is a place to grow and we are confident that we will all be doing that, building life skills that are relevant to the world that we live in.

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

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

 

 

 

 

The Summer of 2020 – It’s a Wrap!

Posted on by Pam Cobb

It’s a wrap!

We made a plan, we followed the plan, we had a successful summer.

Campers connected with other campers and adults who genuinely wanted to be working with children and providing a camp experience. We had an amazing health team including two doctors who helped us navigate the ever-changing landscaping of Covid protocols.

We ran a small camp, overstaffed with lots of competent, fabulous people. We started camp in small groups, expanding the size of our groups eventually into “neighborhoods” so campers could interact with different age groups and different people. We wore masks a lot at first and as our confidence grew about the overall health of our community, we were able to interact during outdoor play without masks.  Girls got to do nearly every activity in camp including riding, ropes, waterskiing, baskets, arts & crafts, swimming, sailing, archery, canoeing, kayaking, riferly, windsurfing, volley ball, yoga, soccer, drama, evening programs, capture the flag, skits and talent show and more.

Meal times were by neighborhood and were served by staff.  Everyone wore masks in the food line and neighborhood groups lined up after washing hands in our new dining hall sink set up.  We added capacity with outdoor seating under the big tent and often ate meals outside picnic style when the weather cooperated. A big shout out to our kitchen crew and other admin and staff who helped in the kitchen. It was hot and we wore masks and gloves all of the time. The food was comforting and the snacks at shacks were a fun twist for everyone.

The weather was amazing all summer with the lake temperature getting up to 82 degrees by August. We had a few fun summer thunderstorms just to keep it real.  Sunsets did not disappoint. Many an evening ended with girls enjoying the fresh air outside while glancing up at the evening sky.  By August, dusk came early and we spotted the Big Dipper, Cassiopeia, the North Star and a lovely waxing moon early the month.


Our mail was delivered by the mail boat on Great Pond. And the no-package policy was a help to Runoia staff with all the pieces to manage, we got a break from packages. Campers enjoyed daily showers at their assigned time and everyone in camp helped to pick up after themselves and clean up after themselves. Life skills learned by all!

Kudos to our staff who remained on campus for nearly 6 weeks to help create this “camp bubble” of safety. It was a summer we will never forget. And now as we close up camp for 2020 we are already planning for 2021. Registration will be open by August 25. Meanwhile, here are the camp dates for 2021 to start planning for next year!

Update from Camp June 4, 2020 Determination, Grit, Skill Building

Posted on by Pam Cobb

Camp Runoia “Harmonyville” is rolling!  Our determination to open Camp Runoia with safety precautions in place this summer is three-fold: First, we want to show girls there is a path forward through this pandemic; we want to give them hope. Second, we want to provide campers and staff with the life skills for a new normal; you can adapt and manage life with new protocols like no hand shaking, new virtual high fives and lots of hand washing. Finally and perhaps most important, we want to model when things get hard, we work harder and we overcome hard things by using our brains and determination. Grit? Yes, I dare say we are modeling grit.

Here are a few updates from camp this week.  We have an ever-evolving picture of camp this summer and some of our guidelines have expanded. So, we wanted to update you as we do weekly.

The Updates:

Mail – will be a thing! No packages for campers, please. We have set up to get mail by the Mail Boat/Water route this summer. A first for Runoia! Mark will set up a mail area on the Big Float so John, the postal delivery person will drive up to the Big Float and drop the mail/pick up the mail. This way we do not have to have Sara our office manager leave camp to get the mail. All these little details are being worked out.

Packages for Campers – did you get the part about no packages? We just wanted to be sure you heard us. 🙂

The Bus While auto drop off is the preferred mode of transportation to camp, the bus home from camp is possible – are you interested? Email alex@runoia.com

Our Financial Policy update was announced last week – this reduced risk has made it more attractive for some families to come to camp.

Enrollment We still have a few spaces in camp.  We feel confident about what we are doing. We know your decision is personal and unique. Contact pam@runoia.com if you are interested or exploring again and have more questions.

Other News

Medical: Our health team is fully hired with 9 members of health team joining us. Our doctors are meeting with other camp doctors next week and have already met with Maine General Infectious Disease Preventionist and the Maine CDC Epidemiologist and our local physician at the Belgrade Regional Health Center.  We have a dedicated team of two nurses who will work with our MDs and will care for patients under investigation (PUI) and a COVID-19 camper or staff organizing pick up to head home. The rest of the nurses will be managing all the regular health care needs from an itchy mosquito bite to a twisted ankle. We will be arranging for medical visits off site with PPE as necessary.

Program: We have most of our programs thought through and realize the areas that will be most difficult for everyone at camp to do this summer will be waterskiing, wilderness trips, sailing, Blue/White team competitions and climbing tower/zipline. Everything else seems reasonable to run and disinfect and run again! For both sailing and waterskiing, limited number of groups of campers from the same household will be able to do these activities. The list of participants will expand if we can move into graduated phases.

Counselors: Alex has re-interviewed each and every counselor so they understand the “camp in a bubble” for 5 weeks, the fluidity of their jobs this summer and the counselors coming to camp are “all in”. They know they will have to get all their refreshing by being in and around camp and they are very excited to join in the effort to make camp a positive, learning, skill-building summer. Out of our 16 key leaders in camp, 15 are returning to model and lead with the Runoia Mission.

That’s all from camp for this week. Please be in touch if you have any questions.

All my best,

Pam – For the Runoia Team

pam@runoia.com

Changing and growing

Posted on by Alex

A couple of weeks ago for a spring treat and a little at home entertainment, I bought five baby chicks. They were already a week old and just the cutest, little, yellow, fluffy balls. What a difference a couple of week makes. They have doubled in size, are almost completely brown, have started to grow wing and tail feathers and are flapping around more practicing their flying skills.  They remain as noisy as ever, eat a ton of food and are messy as anything. They just do their chick thing day after day and in no time at all will be out with the rest of the flock and laying eggs to earn their keep. It is surprising how quickly they mature and grow and is just incredible to see it happen right before your eyes. We can only hang onto the memory of those cute little fuzz balls while we appreciate the delicious eggs of the grown hens.

 

It seems that like the chicks the world around us is changing rapidly right before our eyes too.  We live in a somewhat sedentary state while waiting to spring back into action. The future seems to be filled with the unknown and lots of unanswered questions of ‘what’s next?’ ‘how will we..?’ We really do not know what to expect from one moment to the next. It’s hard to move forward and make plans and any plans that we do make need to be fluid and open to change at a seconds notice. We know that we cannot go back to how things were just a few short weeks ago so will keep growing into this new phase of life. We will develop plans, be willing to change and move forward as best we can.

Keep growing and changing Runoia girls, we can do hard things and even if we may lose our fluffy fuzziness we will grow some really great useful wings!