Story 1

This story is from one of our earliest camps. We give pictures and a brief description of their counselor to the children during registration so that they will be more familiar with them. Mike (not his actual name) had had Stephen as his counselor during the previous year’s camp. However, Mike, was a runner and very difficult to handle, so Stephen had asked to not have him. (Stephen had actually broken his ankle near the end of camp chasing Mike). So, we had given Mike to another counselor. However, during the bus ride to camp, Mike (wanting Stephen as his counselor), swapped photos with another child. He got off the bus proudly displaying his photo of Stephen as his counselor. Needless to say, Stephen relented and took Mike as his camper and all went well. (Much better than the previous year). Side note: Mike was adopted by a very fine family and is a father and a productive citizen today. His adoptive family still does foster care (and continues to adopt children) and we still have their children at camp every year. Some of them have returned later as helpers and then counselors!