A/U RANCHES NEWS - Fall 2016
Mountain Memo
Camp United: A Family Feeling at Youth Camp Campers and Staff Loved It!
With a firm foundation in Principle and led by Love, we made a major change to the structure of camp this summer with the first-ever “Camp United” session. We brought together second through twelfth grade boys and girls, all sharing Sky Valley Ranch for first session. Camp Directors, staff and campers were unified in their assessment of the success of the session. “The first session of Camp United was a joy and blessing to witness. With campers of all ages, the camp experience grew beyond the normal summer camp experience and created a new sense of family”, Sarah Litwiller, Camp United director.
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Using Sky Valley as the location, boys lived in all of the Horseshoe cabins. Girls lived in the Ranger cabins. The atmosphere was uplifted with a new level of sisterhood and brotherhood. Rusty Rohde, long time Sky Valley camp director commented, “In the boys quad, campers from all grades joined together outside to play games together or hang out chatting.” The younger campers looked up to the older campers to engage them in friendship and the older campers lovingly embraced them. All the campers and staff came together for meals at Chuckwagon and enjoyed the free time before and after meals. High school campers warmed up quickly to being big brothers and sisters playing Frisbee, football and soccer on “Chuck” lawn. Often the older kids gave the younger ones piggyback rides. There was a lot of laughter. The younger campers adored the high school campers and often sought them out. Rusty shared, “The dining room was like a big family. The older campers were role models for the younger kids and seemed to enjoy being around them, helping them at the table or getting them food from the buffets.” (continued on page 2)