A letter from Peg - children should have positive camp experience opportunity

I have often said that I believe we, the collective we, have a moral responsibility to ensure all have an opportunity to have a positive camp experience.

The definition of the word "all" includes over 55 million children and youth in America. Is it acceptable that possibly less than 20 percent have a chance to have a camp experience in any given year? In today's world full of threat, demanding academic pressure, disappearing communities, and diminishing opportunities to experience nurturing activities with caring adults -- how can we be satisfied with that unacceptable percentage? To fail to act suggests satisfaction!

What causes our failure to act? Well, it is true too many do not understand the value of camp. Some don't understand that there is a camp for everyone. These facts present us with a problem -- one that we continue to ignore; too few have an opportunity to have a positive camp experience. Ignoring the problem is the same as ignoring the kids. During the Vietnam War, 55,000 U.S. soldiers died in a period of ten years. That reality of loss horrified American citizens, and they demanded that something change. Approximately 5,000 children from the ages of five to nineteen died in the last ten years (from multiple causes) in Indiana. If you extrapolate that to include all forty-nine states, it far exceeds the number of soldiers that died in Vietnam in a comparable period of time. Aren't children just as important? If so, wouldn't we once again demand change? With so many lost, why aren't we taking greater responsibility to make a difference in the lives of children, youth, and adults? If we can make a difference, c an we morally fail to do so? Why aren't we demanding a movement within our camp community to ensure all have a positive, powerful life-changing opportunity called camp? We cannot cure all the ills of the world, but we know our camp communities can embrace and nurture the spirit. What a wonderful asset to offer in today's world.

I think maybe we fail because we lose our trust, our honesty, and then our courage. People, politics, and power are present in every bureaucracy. You can find them in my home. But, the threat of the three "p's" is that we get buried in all the words! Words! Words! Words! We use words to try to make everyone happy. For example, the word research! That word makes some happy. The words, building knowledge, pleases others. The words, improving image, tickle the fancy of others. Technology, and being the information hub, thrills another group. All these things are fine and good. On the other hand, they are just words that describe the tasks that need to be accomplished in order to really make a difference as a community of camp professionals. If we are not careful, all the words that follow people, politics, and power can take us off course.

Do you remember, even a "wordy" paragraph later, how you, your camp, or ACA can really make a difference? We can make it our job to see that as many as possible have an opportunity to have a safe, positive camp experience, Individually, you can commit to changing a life for the better. Collectively, we can all commit to a movement that will ensure all children have an opportunity to go to camp. We can set our moral compass toward the public goodwill we have to offer. Continue to use the words, but don't lose your heart and soul. You must not lose the fourth "p" -- your Passion!

I'll continue to understand and respect the three "p's" of ACA; they are a necessary part of the world. I'll continue to say many of those words so many of us love to say. Yet, make no mistake about my true motivation! If I don't add value to the lives of children, youth, and families, I see no reason to go to work each day! We must hold on to our passion, or we will lose everything, including the opportunity to increase the number of lives who benefit from a positive camp experience. That's why I love ACA. That's why I love the camp experience. We are willing to change lives for the better.

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