Parent/Guardian of Intermediate One Campers

This is a letter that you will receive Saturday but here is a digital copy as a reminder...

Thank you for entrusting your child to Camp Manatawny for the Intermediate One Session. Plans have been made to ensure that your child will have the best experience possible. We will have a lot of fun this week! Your child will make some memories by participating in the normal camp activities such as swimming, archery, crafts, horseback riding, and a hayride. Special fun activities include: flour wars, water balloon battles, a water slide, and the water game “Peace Keeper!” One new addition to the week will be a daily service project that will go with our Bible program.

There are also some “tender moments” that will serve as part of the memories your child will make this week. These memories may come from a personal interaction with his/her counselor or another staff member, gaining confidence by trying something new, successfully learning daily memory work. The Bible theme, “Calling All Heroes”, will provide for some eternal significant memories for your child. So, as you can see, this promises to be a special week for your child.

As a parent, there are some things that you can do to help your child have the best week possible at Camp. One of the most frequently occurring problems with this age group is the matter of homesickness. Let me offer some suggestions to help prevent this problem.

First, please do not call your child on the telephone or instruct your child to call you at a certain time during the session. (Campers are not permitted to have cell phones at Camp.) If you would like to inquire about your child’s wellbeing, please call the Camp office and speak to Tina. Tell her the name of your child and make an appointment to call her back. Tina will check on the status of your child and relay this information to you. Hearing the voice of a parent or loved one will often lead to a bout of homesickness. If there is a problem with your child, either the appropriate staff member (ex. the Camp nurse) or I will call you.

Second, please write your child an encouraging letter or two. Every camper enjoys getting mail from home and please be positive in your letters.

Finally, please do not plan to visit the Camp session without first contacting me. When parents show up at Camp unannounced, simply to see how their child are doing, campers, who were enjoying their week, that is, until their parents started to leave in the evening and sadly, campers end up going home with their parents or developing a good case of homesickness.

Also, we will be updating daily about events and activities of the day at the Intermediate One blog (http://intermediate1week.blogspot.com/). Please check it out to get a glimpse into what is going on with our week.

As I write this letter, I realize that I am asking you to give the staff and myself a great deal trust. I assure you that we will do our best to see that this trust is filled. Please remember us in your prayers.
Please plan to attend the closing ceremony on Saturday. We plan to be moving to the closing ceremony at 9:45 A.M.

In Christ’ Service,
Matt and Jim Wilson, Intermediate 1 Session Directors