Tag: a place where you are valued

Sharing our Update to Staff

Posted on by Pam Cobb

What’s New for Staff at Camp Runoia Harmonyville for Covid-19

This important document communicates what we (you and everyone at Runoia) will be doing to help arrive healthy and stay healthy at camp while having fun, allowing campers to interact meaningfully with peers, building life skills and experiencing camp and the outdoors for three weeks this summer. 

Training and Management: This year, our medical staff will be trained on COVID-19 management procedures and be equipped with PPE when needed. We have a health cabin to manage the regular needs of camper and staff health issues and an isolation area ready to handle anyone who may get COVID-19.

Health Care Workers: We are committed to running camp in a responsible and health-focused way. To figure this out, we are listening closely to health care professionals and the relevant authorities (for instance, Maine CDC, National CDC, American Camp Association) to ensure we have the most accurate and current information. New guidelines from the CDC came out today.  We are “camp experts,” and have brought onto our team medical professionals to guide our process. Our doctors are also camp parents so really ‘get it’ from all angles of camp care.

Hygiene: We have raised our sanitation standards to match and exceed recommendations from health care professionals. We will increase the frequency with which we perform deep cleanings of shared surfaces and indoor facilities, and deploy extra sanitation teams throughout the day. “Teams” means all of us staff/counselors/administrators/kitchen crew and health team. There will be hand washing stations throughout camp, along with hand sanitizer dispensers (all of this is new) and counselors will be prepared to model best hygiene practices. Campers and staff will shower daily.

Monitoring: In order to ensure camper and staff health this summer we will add monitoring elements including daily temperature and symptoms checks first thing in the morning. In a cabin “household” counselors will take and record temperatures and symptoms of everyone in the household. 

Guidelines: In keeping with public guidelines, we will modify parts of our camp program to achieve physical distancing standards. For example, our Dining Hall will operate in shifts this summer to prevent overlap between neighborhood groups. We also plan to operate camp activities with smaller household (cabin) groups that will not interact with other households unless there is appropriate social distancing and sometimes face coverings. 

Self-Quarantine and Health Screening: Staff will be required to monitor their own health and practice low-risk/low-density distancing 14 days before they arrive. Staff will quarantine on-site before camp and campers will be asked to self-quarantine before and after camp. Counselors will have a health check upon arrival. Campers will have a health check at drop-off on Opening Day and everyone joining the camp community will be tested. We will adjust the way we manage Opening and Closing Day to minimize interaction between camp families.  

Camp in a Bubble: Parents will not be allowed on campus on opening and closing day. Counselors will help all their household campers unpack and organize their rooms.There will be no outside visitors during the summer. We will limit entrances and exits to and from camp property to essential services only. 

Staff have made the extra commitment not to leave camp in a vehicle or go to any other place except camp property and exercise in the area of camp (including walking/running/biking down the Point Road or Woodland Camp Road) during their time off. 

Illness at Camp: In the event that someone does get sick at camp this summer, we have multi-staged quarantine and isolation procedures that will allow us the time to determine the best response, including whether or not the ill camper or staff member will be able to rejoin the camp population after a period of time.  We will have a team of RNs to care for anyone being tested for COVID and isolated. If you have COVID-19 symptoms or you contract COVID-19 at camp, we will have a comfortable place on campus for you to live until we can make a plan with you.

Communication: Camp Runoia will communicate with parents and staff in a thorough and transparent manner. We recognize the importance of sharing the best information available as quickly as possible.  The information also changes and we are providing updates to families and staff. 

This summer, we aspire to be better than ever.  Thoughtful and detailed communication is more important than ever in keeping our community well-informed and highly-prepared. 

 

Update from Camp May 20, 2020

Posted on by Pam Cobb

Update from Camp May 20, 2020

Dear Runoia Families,

Camp means a lot to all of us. “Camp more than ever” has become a saying we repeat throughout the day. We have been working over the past eight weeks with the keen optimism to open camp this summer.

Our Plan to Open:

We plan to open for your children. We know it will be the hardest summer we have ever worked. We know there are risks and we describe them in this letter. Please read and digest the information outlined. Afterwards, we need to hear from you by this Saturday afternoon, May 23 if your daughter(s) will be joining us. If we can pull this off, early next week we will send an enrollment link to those who want to enroll.

It will be a different summer at Camp Runoia, but we are confident that it will still be a special and meaningful summer for your daughters.  This summer, camp is not for everyone and we understand that choice. We love and will welcome you in 2021.

The Story:

It’s May 20, and our plan is to open camp for an abbreviated summer session. We’ve met with all the same medical and testing experts and consultants all the other camps have met with during the pandemic. We believe there is a way through this.  It is a difficult journey with risks. The decision to close or open has been personal for all camps. Many of our camp director friends have made the painstaking decision to “suspend” their 2020 season. A few camps have decided to open. Each camp has its own reasons and process for making its own best decision.

If we are able to open, camp in 2020 will be a different kind of Runoia. As a Camp Runoia family, your opinion matters to us. Please read through this note and check your own feelings. If you think it’s a good idea for your family and a good match for your daughter(s) please let us know you’ll enroll in 2020. Our outline of camp below is based on the information we’ve received from medical experts, other camp directors, ACA guidance, and our understanding of the guidance for opening camps that will be released soon by the State of Maine. Our intent is to run camp by meeting, or exceeding, the best practices and guidelines for operating a resident camp during the current pandemic.

There is no guarantee our camp will be COVID-19 free and there is no guarantee your daughter will not contract COVID-19 while at camp.

Why We Think We Can Do This:

You may wonder why we are going to this effort when other camps tried just as hard and came to the decision to close this summer. We know our campers need camp more than ever. We believe Camp Runoia’s large physical campus, our ability to create and follow systems, our overall numbers of campers and staff being smaller than large camps help us to be positioned for a high rate of success. We have had an outpouring of support from families including two camp parents who are MDs and will join our on site health team. The majority of our key staff say, “We will do anything to make camp happen, tell us how we can help and let’s go!” 

One Session 2020:

Camp would offer one session. It would be a 3-week session July 18- August 8. This is not “first session” or “second session”. This is “Camp Runoia Harmonyville” (CRH). After you analyze your own risk tolerance, we would like to hear from you if you would like to enroll in CRH this summer.

Because of the sessions merging, camper cabin groups would be a different composition than your daughter(s) previous cabin group. This is important to discuss with your daughter. Maybe she has friends you can be in contact with to see if they plan to enroll. Partnering with us in this different summer means we will be focused on your campers and the safety of campers and staff at camp. We will do our best to address your needs while your daughter is at camp but she is our priority.  We will communicate information with you but we cannot take special requests for your daughter this summer.

Testing and Self-Quarantine:

If there is reliable testing prior to camp opening, we will do our best to line up testing, have you monitor and self-quarantine before camp.  Testing costs will be submitted to parent’s insurance when possible. There is no guarantee we will be able to do testing for all.

Testing may not be available when our staff have to arrive at camp in order to prepare for the season. Therefore, there are no guarantees of testing for staff.

On May 18, the Maine testing guidelines expanded to include anyone who suspects they have been in contact with an infected person. This is great news for us. We expect testing to get more reliable and efficient over the next 6 weeks and are hopeful that it does.

Staff and campers will monitor health and practice low-risk exposure for a period of time before arriving at camp and during camp. More details will be outlined in further communication.

Residential Life, Mealtime and Program:

Camp most likely will operate in households (cabins) by age groups and each “end” of camp would be a neighborhood. So, the three neighborhoods would be Junior End, Senior End, and Senior Village/Ocho This is consistent with public health guidelines from the State to mitigate the risk of spreading infection.

Households (cabin groups) will be able to interact with each (counselors and campers) without masks.

Activity program will be scheduled by households for the first part of camp and possibly all of camp. There may be choices within your scheduled area. Some activities may not be able to be offered.  There will not be regular “tag-up”.   We will still offer excellent activities and skill-building opportunities.

Campers and counselors from different households would practice physical distancing or wearing face masks when interacting within their neighborhood for things like Evening Program and Dining Hall use.

The three Neighborhoods (Junior End, Senior End, SV/OCHO) will not be able to interact with each other due to contact tracing guidelines.

Evening Programs, Recreational Swims, Assembly, Flag Raising and End of Session Events will be modified.

There would be no wilderness trips leaving by van. Some trips may be offered on our lake and on our campus.

Mealtime would be with your neighborhood spaced apart in the Dining Hall with your household eating together as a group. Mealtime will be staggered by neighborhoods. Staff will serve campers and campers may have to wear masks in a buffet line (with distancing) as they are served (more like cafeteria style).

It may be a “Campstamps” (email service) only summer. We most likely will not be able to post photos for viewing throughout the summer in our Waldo or CampMinder system because we will be busy focusing on the safety of your children.

There may not be any packages except drop shipped specialty foods for food allergies or medical reasons.

Some past practices and traditions are going to have to be let go of this summer so safety can remain our top priority.

Camp in a Bubble: The concept is to have a healthy population arrive at camp and let in as little risk as possible.

  • There will be no visitors allowed in camp.
  • Essential contractors, service people, and delivery personnel will wear masks when on campus and physically distance themselves from our staff and campers.
  • Travel to camp will look different than previous summers:
    • We may restrict camp to auto drop off only.
    • We may or may not offer a bus to camp but we may offer a bus home from camp.
    • We are still working on the concept of flights to camp and if they will be allowed this summer.
    • Parents dropping their child off at camp may be able to take their daughter to a welcome area to meet with the health team, who will be in PPE. It is also possible that your daughter would go to the welcome area on her own to meet the health team and camp staff.
    • One parent may come with one child to the drop off area and other family members, family friends and dogs may not enter the area.
    • Parents and family members may not come into camp or walk around camp.
  • Medical Team – we will have a fully staffed medical team including a resident MD and multiple nurses and/or EMTs.
  • In camp monitoring will likely include daily temperature and symptom checks.
  • If campers develop COVID-19 symptoms, they will be treated in a different area and by a different designated health team than campers with other health and medical needs such as a splinter or twisted ankle.
  • Trips to the Emergency Department will be with an authorized Runoia administrator or health team member who will wear a mask and use best practices for hygiene.

COVID-19 Non-negotiables:

If there is testing used by Runoia, you will be required to test at home before arriving at camp.  A camper testing positive for COVID-19 may not come to camp. There will be no refund of tuition at that point.

We would require you to pick-up your daughter if she tested positive for COVID-19 while at camp. We will have a safe, comfortable isolation unit for your daughter to remain while you are on your way to camp. We are not a hospital or a medical provider in the typical sense of the term. We have camp doctors who are professionals and a professional team but we cannot isolate and treat patients for extended periods of time. Camp tuition will not be prorated.

Maine General Hospital is located nearby in Augusta, Maine and any patients with acute illness will be transported there and a camp personnel will remain with a minor within reason, until a family member can arrive.

Parents would be required to sign an Assumption of Risk realizing their child may contract COVID-19 at camp.

Dates and Rates:

Camp Runoia Harmonyville (CRH) will run from July 18 – August 8. The tuition will be $7500. The deposit and tuition you have paid to date will be applied to CRH and the balance will be due in full June 15, 2020.

In Summary:

We know this isn’t easy. As we communicated previously, there is nothing we want more than to operate camp safely and responsibly for your daughter. The current circumstances require a tremendous amount of consideration to meet the challenges that lay ahead.

Notwithstanding our best efforts, there is a chance that we may not be able to open camp this summer.  There is a chance the Maine Governor will decide in June that camps may not open in July.  If that is the case, we will work out our best options for refunds and do the best we can do. Working toward opening camp this next month will be critical to make it happen and that involves more expenses for supplies and additional team members, hiring requirements and operations.

If you read and process this letter and feel Camp Runoia Harmonyville is the place for your daughter to be this summer, please respond to this email and let us know by Saturday May 23. Early next week, you will be sent an enrollment link to the new session. Please complete enrollment as soon as possible after receiving the link. After Friday May 29, if spaces are still available, we will open enrollment to other families currently on the waiting list.

Graduating campers in 2020, may return for graduation at a later date, perhaps next summer or maybe a special period of time at camp. TBA.

If you choose to take a “leap year” and plan to return in 2021, we will roll over your tuition payment to save a spot. We welcome you and your family for 2021 with so much love. Once a #runoiagal always a #runoiagal. If you want to cancel and you need financial support, please contact pam@runoia.com or call Pam #207-495-2228.

In Closing:

We have all been affected in unimaginable ways by the pandemic and the economic crisis.  We do not take any of this lightly and have been planning two scenarios (open and close) for the past four weeks. In our hearts, we want nothing more than to see our Runoia gals back at camp this summer.  We support your decision, whatever you choose and know that Runoia will be here for our 115th season in 2021.

With warmth and a whole lot of love,

Pam and Alex

For the Runoia Team

 

Mid-Week Update from Runoia May 13

Posted on by Pam Cobb

Dear, dear Runoia Families,

Our opening day of camp was scheduled for just five weeks from now. As I have mentioned in previous updates, we have had to push back that date into July by according to the mandate of the Governor of Maine. She is not at fault. She is trying to keep people safe.  We are still unsure of our start date and we continue to exercise our patience. Thanks for hanging with us. We know this is very trying and we all want camp to often under safe guidelines.

Today we are still waiting for guidelines from the experts. And we are still planning and organizing. Our annual water system start-up, testing and certification and all the other mundane business of facility maintenance and operation is underway.  We have three riding staff who arrived at camp and will be in self-quarantine for the next 14 days as our camp horses arrive this week. The animals need care throughout the summer until they can go back to school in the fall. Alex and I still work from our individual homes and plan to gather at camp in June.

If we are able to open or not, we know the consequences and risks are heavy either way. Children need camp more than ever.  The sadness of opportunities missed from family gatherings, graduation celebrations, final performances, sporting events and playoff games, the list goes on and I need not remind you. Deep in our heart, we do not want to add camp to the list of sadness.

What is the correct decision about camp 2020?

We have parents eager for us to open camp. We have parents wondering if it’s the right thing to do. Yesterday, our medical team meeting was very positive with two doctors, a doctor in residence and our Maine nurse sharing knowledge about their experience thus far with COVID-19. They are heroes to us because of what they do on the front lines and also because they are providing us with much needed support and ideas about health care at camp.  While, in general, children have mild symptoms or do not show symptoms, there is a lot we are still learning about COVID-19. Thank you, heroes.

Can we open camp in a new normal with small groups, contact tracing, physical distancing? Sisters visiting each other with masks? We are flexible and hard-working and we have good ideas about navigating camp with the best practices. It would be a different kind of camp but it would still be our camp. We are capable of adapting. And then we pause and say, which decision is the right decision?

We told you we would know more in mid-May. Well it is almost mid-May and we are still waiting for guidelines and we are told they are coming, maybe early next week. We will be in touch as soon as possible.

We send love throughout our community and beyond. We are with you in spirit and send a virtual yet meaningful hug.

Pam

For the Runoia Team with so much love our hearts are bursting

 

 

Update May 6, 2020

Posted on by Pam Cobb

Dear Runoia Families, Greetings from Great Pond.

Safety and Opening Camp in 2020

The safety of our campers, staff and their families and the surrounding Maine communities remain our priority as we sort through the possibility of opening camp this summer.  We know children and families need camp more than ever.  Our hopes are to open camp if we are able to meet or exceed the guidelines set forth by the state of Maine and the American Camping Association.

We remain cautiously optimistic as we work with American Camp Association guidelines (a panel of experts compiled with support of the CDC, American Board of Pediatrics, the Board of Camp Nursing and infectious disease consultants) for safely opening resident camps in 2020. With these guidelines coming out in the next 10-12 days and our industry representatives and lobbyist continuing to meet with Governor Mills’ task force for restarting Maine’s economy.  As of the past week, a few camps have decided not to operate this summer in Maine, including foundations, medical camps, and three resident camps. Over 120 Maine resident camps are still waiting for more information to make a final decision with safety as the top objective.

The American Camp Association will be releasing the ACA Camp Operations Guide for camps by mid-May.  So far they have provided the resource of the table of contents to outline the depth of the finished guide book.  We are eagerly awaiting the guidelines.

Testing

Availability of accurate testing would be a game changer for our ability to safely open camp. Two of our peers in camping have connections with labs who say they can get us tests. How testing campers before arrival at camp will roll out logistically is another puzzle we are working on. If any Runoia parents are involved in testing and have a way to connect us with quality tests, please contact pam@runoia.com or call #207-495-2228 to connect. Without testing, we can rely on diagnostic information from families prior to camp and checking and monitoring for symptoms upon arrival at camp and implement contact tracing guidelines.

Preparation and Timeline for Camp 2020

We meet daily with other camp owners and directors and our Runoia team, medical consultants and industry representatives. We are working through scenarios including all aspects of running a safe camp parallel with the COVID-19 pandemic. Alex and I connect every day working on our plans for camp.  We have two doctors who have volunteered to step in to help guide the Runoia Health Team this summer. Both doctors plan to live at camp for part or all of their assigned session.  We have a team meeting with them scheduled for mid May.

We have been told we will have more information in the next 10-12 days from the state of Maine and ACA.  We will share with our families and staff as soon as we have the final details of our plan. Meanwhile, in addition to these emails, you can find weekly updates on our website: www.runoia.com on our COVID-19 banner at the top of the page. We recognize some families will decide that camp will not be part of their plans this summer. If so, we hope camp will be in your plans for next summer.

Tuition and Refund/Rollover

You may have questions about refunds and tuition rollover.  As you know, we work on camp all year. The past nine months have been busy for our full -time employees and our summer staff who work with us in the winter to contribute to the next summer. Financial obligations have been made throughout the year on mortgages, taxes, licenses, maintenance of buildings and grounds, payroll, renovations, equipment loans and purchases, operating expenses, pre-paid expenses, program improvement, horse care, and ironically, an addition to our camp Health Cabin.  There is no insurance coverage for this pandemic for loss of, or interruption of, business income.

We recognize that everyone’s situation is different.  Some families have experienced reduced income, and others have had financial disturbances. We know everyone has been affected.  We are thinking of you. Whatever you are able to do for Runoia is appreciated. If you are able to roll over your tuition for next summer, that will be a great help to ensure camp can continue to operate at our very best. If you are able to donate a part of your tuition to camp’s operations thus far this year, we would be so grateful. If you need a full refund of tuition paid, we will take care of you with love.

We know camp is a very important priority for many families. For 113 summers Runoia has persevered through world wars, the Spanish flu, polio outbreaks, the Great Depression and multiple recessions. In our hearts we want camp to open this summer – we want to see our campers and allow them to just be children at summer camp; their summer camp.

We are holding onto hope, planning and waiting some more. We are exercising our best patience. We appreciate the support many of you are sending us.

Sincerely,

Pam

For the Runoia Team

Update from Camp May 1

Posted on by Pam Cobb

Hello Dear Families,

Maine Summer Camps and our lobbyists met with Government officials from the Governor’s administration yesterday. Today over 160 people from Maine camps met with MSC executive board to hear of outcomes of the meeting.

It’s a bit of a hurry up and wait situation, as you can imagine. The governor’s panel collected the questions we had about Phase 3 of Restarting Maine and they will process the questions internally. The Maine State government is establishing a check list for opening by industry.  As they are doing with every other industry, they will come up with a guideline for camps – hopefully in the next two weeks. Grouped into Phase 3 are restaurants and hotels. Maine business owners are eager to figure out how to get back on track for tourism and summer business and summer camp.

Every industry in Maine is trying to meet with the governor’s task force so it was impressive that executive director, Ron Hall, was able to secure an hour meeting for Maine camps. Although you may have heard from the news last night and today about a restaurant in Maine going rogue and opening to serve people today, we hope everyone else follows the guidelines to keep people safe. It is no coincidence that Maine has a lower rate of COVID-19 than other places. Slowing the spread by physical distancing is working. We want to do the right thing and put peoples’ safety first.

American Camp Association released the outline of The Camp Operations Guide 2020.  They hope to release the details in the next two weeks and will hold a town hall in mid-May. They realize the window for camps to get organized to up and running is getting shorter so they are working very hard to get the contents of the guide published. You can see from the table of contents, it is a full document that will go out to over 2000 camps across the United States. Then each camp takes into consideration the guidelines and figures out how to apply them. We are eager to get going on filling out the contents ourselves. We have built some of the guidelines internally – and are waiting to weigh our thoughts with those of the experts and adjust where necessary for our 2020 protocols for health and safety.

We wanted to finish up with the week with an update to tell you the news as we learn it. What we know at the end of a long week, is we will need to exercise more patience while we wait for guidelines so we can figure out dates. In recognition of how hard this is to plan, we have extended our cancelation date from May 1 to June 1. This should give us time to set dates and protocols, allow you look at and absorb the information and make decisions that are best for your family. Although our cancelation policy was not designed for an entire camp season to be canceled or a majority of our families to cancel, we realize everyone has their own financial tolerance for the current times. We will do everything in our power to do what is fair and reasonable to support you and keep Camp Runoia going strong.

We have a COVID-19 update section of our website as a banner on our website. You can check there for the latest information.

We continue to hold out hope to have Camp Runoia run an amazing, albeit different, camp program this summer for your daughters in our 114th summer of camp.

Sending so much love and Happy May Day. We should all take a deep breath and imagine twirling around a May Pole (at least for a minute).

See you for Campfire on Sunday, May 3rd at 7 pm if you like joining us. We’ll be there with the theme, “Animals”.

With so much love,

Pam
For the Runoia Team

 

Update from Camp April 29, 2020

Posted on by Pam Cobb

Dear Runoia Families and our “Runoia Family”,

Here is our weekly update bring April to a close with a hint of some great news:

Our Maine Governor, Governor Janet Mills, with the Director of Maine CDC, Dr. Shah, presented a press conference yesterday. These two have given us hope and as clear as possible messages in these unprecedented times. The great news is with strict practices, Maine has been flattening the curve over the past few weeks. Yesterday’s press conference was a detailed plan about the roll out phases of restarting the Maine community with public health and safety being a priority. You can find more details on the Maine plan here.

Governor Mills put resident summer camps in phase 3 of the roll out plan. This means, if everything goes to the standards her team has set, we will be able to open Camp Runoia in July! This would mean we are looking and hoping for the 2nd contingency plan of camp we mentioned in the April 15 update here. In short, we open camp in July for 2 shorter sessions and full season campers may attend camp both sessions.

As you can imagine the over 100 Maine resident summer camps have been waiting for guidelines so we can make decisions about camp that make sense. The plan and partial mandates given yesterday (including a stay at home order extended through May 31 and 14 day quarantine upon entering the state) leaves us with a lot of questions. Fortunately, we have Maine Summer Camps Executive Director, Ron Hall and the Executive Board meeting with the governor’s task force as soon as tomorrow to get more answers to our many questions. We have a camp “Town Hall” on Friday and hope to receive more clarity.

As soon as we have more information and can set dates and parameters for travel and more, we will be in touch.  We realize this is an ever evolving and dynamic situation. We appreciate your hope, support and patience.

Meanwhile, we continue to lay out health and safety plans for our current employees, our equine team, our local Belgrade Lakes tradespeople (from plumbers to wifi specialists) to keep them safe as we ramp up camp in preparation for the 2020 season. We take the health and safety of our campers, our camp families, our employees and local business families very seriously.

From Great Pond, we send you love and a “wadas”. We will continue to update you in a transparent manner as soon as possible.

 

For the Whole Runoia Crew,

Pam

Update from Camp Runoia

Posted on by Pam Cobb

Greetings and an Update from Camp!

It’s been a long and busy week for all since we last checked in.  We wait with patience as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to change our lives and routines.  Our hearts go out to those directly affected and also to our brave health care workers and first responders, including many of our alumnae and parents, who are on the front line. We are thinking of all of you and hope our activities help bring joy and laughter to your lives.

Stay tuned here over the next few weeks for news from camp. As of now, we are staying the course for summer 2020.
_________________________

New this week is: All Family EP This THURSDAY NIGHT

MOSTEST Emceed by Barb!
Time: Thursday Apr 9, 2020 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/9194214302?pwd=R2EyRXkzaHEzUG5yQmk4T3BEeE4rZz09

Meeting ID: 919 421 4302
Password: contact pam@runoia.com for the password or search your inbox for “Update from Camp Runoia” sent 4.8.2020

  • The object of the game is for each team to prepare the following categories:

best team name
best team cheer
best team uniform
oldest team (add up all the ages of team members)
longest hair
years at Runoia
weirdest talent
best celebrity impression
most letters in full name
best gentle-est lullaby sung by a team
best dance moves
wackiest pet
coolest socks being worn by a team member
most flexible team member

  • Judges will award points and the team with the most points wins!
    _________________________

Campfire on FB Live every Sunday night at 7 pm
Our April 12th Campfire theme is LAUGHTER. Send your song requests to Alex alex@runoia.com

As a thanks to Barb for her awesome song “Lava” at last week’s campfire on Earth, attached is a coloring sheet from Mulan!
_________________________

Runoia’s After School Activities can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY3ncji0tZIAnWRW11ldYsw

You may have tuned in to try everything from friendship bracelets to Congo bars recently. Here’s a reminder of this week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 4 pm EST – Duct Tape wallets, Whoopie Pies and CJ’s egg osmosis)

and next week’s list to help you get your supplies ready:

April 13th, Monday – Flower Rings with Abbie – supplies – 4 pipe cleaners
April 15th, Wednesday – Macramé Bracelets with Alex & K – supplies – tape, scissors, 2 different color nylon craft string (not embroidery floss but nylon string which is thicker)
April 17th, Friday – Toilet Paper Tube Projects with Callie – supplies – toilet paper roll tubes, tape, colored paper, markers

Shout out to Jen for organizing the activities and “bobos” to all the Runoia staff who are leading activities.
_________________________

Please know we are loving you from camp. We appreciate those of you who have completed your forms on your Camp-in-Touch dashboard. Thank You!

We are busy working on everything from current programming, maintenance, summer program, plans for new health check in and health readiness systems at camp, finalizing staff hiring and preparing for an awesome and safe summer on Great Pond.

To our families who celebrate the upcoming holidays, we wish you a Happy Passover and Easter. To all we send peace and calm.

With love,

Pam and Alex
For the Runoia Team

Conscious Leadership and Learning

Posted on by Pam Cobb

This week four of our Runoia leadership team met in Portland ME for a workshop in conscious leadership. The joke I heard from anyone I told I was going was “I’m glad it’s not about unconscious leadership”.

Truthfully though many of us plow through our days on auto pilot and we don’t frame our interactions with people with a sense of curiosity, an openness to actively listen, not engage in drama, a commitment to feeling and being honest.

Being honest seems so obvious however statistically 97% of people lie at some time. Even answering “how are you feeling?” And answering “fine” is easily a lie. But we all know most people use the question as a greeting and they really aren’t asking for us to unload everything on our minds. So we answer “fine”. We say things to protect people’s feelings or we stretch the truth so we don’t cross wires with someone. And sometimes we lie to do that.

What we mostly received from spending a few hours with an engaging albeit intense, humorous trainer was a way of supporting each other, to be real and honest with each other, to make agreements we can commit to 100% with the caveat that we can re-negotiate the agreement. We are inspired to bring this concept to the rest of our Camp Runoia leadership team.

We realized we can express ourselves, put ourselves in each other’s shoes, not have to solve everything for everyone but create a safety net that will help them to learn on their own.

All year at Runoia we are preparing for the next summer. We model our staff training on workshops we attend, we reach into our bag of tricks to add a special twist to an event for camp, sketch out ideas we share with our team and flesh out together. It’s the positive and calm moments of the off season that help us fire up our engines for the on season.

One of the best parts of preparing for camp is we learn in the process. Camp is a place for intentional youth development and a side outcome is we adults get to grow through the process as well.

“Remember who you are and what you represent.” 

Posted on by Pam Cobb

Jody Sataloff  – Guest Blog

“Remember who you are and what you represent.”  Back in my camp counselor days in the early 70s (good grief, was it really that long ago?), this was the abiding ethic, the ever present rule of law, that Betty Cobb expected us  to live by.  Anytime we left camp proper she sent us off with that reminder.  We all rolled our eyes and scoffed at this repeated admonition.  I suspect that most, like me, didn’t appreciate the value of those words until we were true adults with kids of our own. 

Remember who you are and what you represent.  Those eight words pack a punch.  For me, they pretty much represent the myriad of life lessons I learned at Camp Runoia.

  1. Who are you, and who do you want to be?  Are you a leader?  Are you a risk taker?  Are you an optimist? Are you kind, empathetic, generous?  Runoia taught me to try and be all those things.  I might have been one of them when I arrived there….I hope I was many by the time I left.  I remember the thrill as a young counselor of being in charge of my first camping trip with young girls — that rushing sense of responsibility, the new feeling of a sort of power to be in charge of the kind of experience others would have.  And I remember the nervousness of leading my first overnight sailing trip, recognizing the risk of all that could go wrong, but forcing myself to charge into the experience with enthusiasm.  I remember being stuck on a rainy day in the boathouse with a class of young sailors, miserable with the weather and being “grounded…and realizing the importance of putting a sunny side on the experience and coming up with games like Dr. Knickerbocker and Pin the Telltale on the Sail.  I remember wanting nothing more than a quiet rest hour to myself and having a 5th shacker suffering from homesickness need comfort that took up the entire hour.  Wonderful growth, wonderful life lessons.
  2. We are all part of something bigger, be it a camp, a family, a place of employment, a school….and when we are out in the world, our actions reflect back on that bigger thing we are part of.  It’s important to remember that, that what we say and what we do has a giant ripple effect and we have a responsibility to those to whom we are attached in one way or another.  We represent them.  We are obliged to do it well.
  3. Throughout our lives we will encounter one tough situation after another.  It’s not the ones we walk away from that are remembered.  It’s the ones we face, and how we choose to face them.  Remember who you are and what you represent.  For me, going through life, recalling these words, I try to reach deep inside myself and locate the strong girl/woman Runoia  helped me to become.  I try to make decisions based on that strength and on the good judgement I learned to try to use in life.  While at camp you had no choice but to become flexible, learn to make compromises while you were living in close proximity to others, combat fear to try new things, be kind and caring all along the way.  In other words, you learned to be responsible.  And learning this at camp, it was all important to me when I had kids of my own to instill this same sense of responsibility, this same sense that we do not walk through life alone, that our steps have consequences on all whose lives we touch, that we owe it to them, to our families, our friends, our co-workers, our communities to take those steps with courage, with strength, with compassion, with grace.

 

I carry Betty’s phrase with me throughout both my personal and professional lives.  Whenever my kids walked out the door, I heard it emanating from my mouth.  I have it in my head when I speak or act in public.  It is just one of the many Runoia building blocks that have hopefully made me a better person than I ever could have been without it, without Runoia.

 

 

 

The Spirit of Giving

Posted on by Pam Cobb

Runoia’s continued partnership with World of Change deepens the spirit of giving. We feel honored to donate to WOC on behalf of our campers and staff.

Last summer we encouraged families to bring their loose change to camp. In the US over $10 million in loose change exists today. That’s about $90 per household.  Founder and executive of WOC, Matt Hoidal, came to camp to share about the organization with our campers. Amidst cheers and clapping, holding up two large jars of change, Matt exclaimed, you are giving over $200! Matt explained how ALL the money raised goes directly to recipients. His salary is paid by a donor so that none of the overhead in running the organization is paid through donations. What a great model!

Matt then surprised us by sharing that all the money will go to specific needs and, wait for it, we can choose! The campers decided to buy a bed for a child who was sleeping on the floor, backpacks for back to school students and hot meals for people who needed food. We all got a warm feeling from the experience.

This summer we hope to double our change fundraiser. At the beginning and end of each session, change jars will be available. Collect change at home or find some in your car on opening or closing day. You’ll get a great feeling from being part of the movement!

And, if you’re reading this and want to do a mitzvah, you can raise money at your school or community for World of Change. Find out more about inspiring others here.

We are thrilled to make the connection this holiday season and donate to WOC from all of us at Runoia.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love, Aionur