Letters from Camp Magazine - Fall 2024 - Issue No. 4
MENOGYN SHUFFLE
WIDJIWAGAN TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH PIGEONS, HIDING IN THE ARCHIVES
There is something magical about the unifying power of a bonfire. We each take our individual fireside seats, share our unique stories, and connect through our common experiences. This alumni community is capturing that same magic, and we want you to join us fireside! Bring your stories, your favorite acoustic guitar riff, and all that camp spirit—it is very much welcome here, and we can’t wait to get to know you.
WITH US
ymcanorth.org/adventure/alumni
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
The date was August 8, 2008. I was executive director of a small youth camp up North, where we typically filled much of the evening with all-camp activities. Somehow, that night, we were running ahead of schedule. (That was a very rare occurrence!) The program director and I huddled together to plan how to fill this unexpected, extra time when inspiration struck: We decided that since it was 8/8/08, we could use that for something “special”. We spent a few minutes rapid-fire brainstorming and then kicked into action.
Our dining hall had a large deck that overlooked a big open space. We had to act fast if we were to pull this together, so we quickly gathered all the campers and staff into the clearing. It was nearly 8 p.m., and we HAD to celebrate this momentous occasion!
We hurriedly got everyone into formation. With the program director shouting instructions while standing on the deck above everyone: “We need to hurry! It’s almost time!” The kids were still a little uncertain of what exactly was happening, but the excitement was building.
Within minutes, we managed to get everyone into position to form a giant 8.
During the closing program at the end of the session, I always asked kids to raise their hands and share their favorite thing from the week. When the first camper said, “the 8/8/08 celebration” my face broke into a huge grin, what a funny thing to leave a lasting memory!
When the next camper said 8/8/08 — and the next camper — and several more after that, I was shocked. A little boy stood up and said, “It was a once-in-a-lifetime event! It will never again be 8/8/08 and I’m glad we were all together!”
“Ok everyone, it is nearly 8:08 p.m. We will let you know when it’s time to count down from 8. And once it is 8:08 on 8/8/08, we will go wild for an entire minute. So get ready!”
At 8:07 and 52 seconds, the whole group started counting backwards: “8… 7… 6… 5… 4... 3… 2… 1!”
A roar of excitement erupted, rivaling anything you’ve heard in a stadium. Kids were bouncing, yelling, dancing, high fiving, waving their arms. A minute is a LONG time to be that exuberant, but we held onto the energy. And then it was over. Groups were dismissed to brush their teeth and change into pajamas.
I couldn’t help but laugh to myself as I went to bed that night. It was such a random, quickly executed plan, all to fill a moment.
In this issue, we have several stories about impact, as YMCA camps are known for the indelible marks that start with a simple occurrence and evolve into core memories. Many of our stories in this issue are about a powerful camp experience working long-term magic in someone’s life. We have stories of how campers, staff, and volunteers have transformed the camps they love. And we have stories of how people brought together through camp have forever changed one another for the better.
In the moment, we don’t know which experiences will stick with us for a lifetime. However, I think we can all agree, that camp tends to be the one space where everlasting impressions and impact that changes us to our core are a given. I think everyone can agree: camp is a remarkable gift of lasting impact.
I am grateful beyond words to all of the people who shared their stories with me for this issue. The privilege of telling your stories is the best part of my job. If you are reading this and have a camp story you want to share, please reach out! I would love to hear from you.
NATALIE KING Director of Alumni Philanthropy and Editor of ‘Letters From Camp’
YMCA OF THE NORTH 651 Nicollet Mall, Suite 500 Minneapolis, MN 55402 ymcanorth.org
Coffee and Carharts with Menogyn, Location TBD DEC 14 Breakfast with Santa at Camp St. Croix JAN 17-20 Adult Winter Camp at Camp Warren
EDITORIAL STAFF
Natalie King
Editor and Lead Writer Director of Alumni Philanthropy
Joe Pollock Latner
Reid Bauman Photographers
Jim Levi Guest Writer
Gretchen Heim Design and Layout
Monica Kenney
Shane Hoefer Editorial Team
Michelle Edgerton Executive Vice President of Advancement
We are working hard to put out the best magazine possible. How did we do? What else do you want to see? Help us improve by giving us your suggestions.
NATALIE KING, Editor natalie.king@ymcanorth.org WE WANT TO HEAR YOUR FEEDBACK!
Nord
FROM WIDJIWAGAN
TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH
The adventures of Arctic explorer Ann Bancroft started just off the North Arm Road
“Everything about camp was empowering, and I feel like it had a lot to do with where I went later in life.”
Unpack some of the code in that quote with us, dear reader.
• “Camp” = YMCA Camp Widjiwagan.
• “I” = Ann Bancroft.
• “Where I went” = the North Pole (and beyond).
Famous for becoming the first woman to reach the North Pole, Minnesotan Ann Bancroft blazed trails few had gone before. The North Pole. She walked across Antarctica. On foot. The list goes on. Widely known in some circles, yet a revelation to others: Ann got her start at Camp Widjiwagan as both a camper from 1969-74 and a staff member in 1976.
IT ALL BEGAN WITH A BOOK AND A TRIP TO CAMP
When Ann Bancroft was 10 years old, she read “The Endurance,” “the harrowing tale of British explorer Ernest Shackleton’s 1914 attempt to reach the South Pole” and called “one of the best adventure books ever written” by “The Wall Street Journal.”
“It was like lightning struck, and the polar region was ignited in me. Dog teams, ice, tents, camaraderie … I wanted all that,” Ann said. Ann had gone camping with her dad, Dick, but after reading the book, she wanted more.
Through her neighbor who had gone the year before, and from a source closer to home, Ann had learned about a noteworthy camp in Minnesota, Widjiwagan. Her mom, Debbie, was a camper on one of the first female trips in the 1940s, a major source of pride for both Debbie and Ann. And so, in seventh grade, Ann signed up for her first trip to Camp Widjiwagan.
“I felt so completely alive in the woods. And Widji embraced my individuality. I was on my own for my first significant adventure.” It was 1969, and she was 14 years old.
“Widji really got me as a ‘weird kid.’ I felt like they understood me in ways my parents didn’t. It was freeing in so many ways. It was such an important time for developing self-esteem, a sense of worth, and your place in the universe. What can you give a girl to keep bringing out their courage, potential, and passions and to teach them to raise their voices up? Everything about camp was empowering, and I feel like it had a lot to do with where I went later in life.
Ann returned to camp the following summer. Her second year was profound, the third formative.
In the late 1960s, trips were led by female counselors, but had to include a male guide. Ann said, “I don’t know all the details of the behind-the-scenes, but that was a transition point.” Her trip that year included eight girls and a female counselor, without a guide. It was a “different formula” than previous Widji trips. And that group, “gelled like crazy. We were so tight. We were empowered by not having a male guide. We knew what we were doing and we felt like we were unstoppable. I think it had a lot to do with having a female guide and being led by this powerful woman. She was little, but she could flip the big canoe. It was so inspiring.”
The third summer she returned, once again, she had an incredible group that really connected. But for some reason, they once again had a male guide. “We were incensed! We felt like we had graduated from needing a male guide; we felt so slighted that they didn’t believe in us.”
Maybe in part because of this perceived insult, during that trip, “We paddled twice the distance, and worked so hard. We were determined to prove our worth.”
Ann would continue to go to Widji each summer after that, taking a Voyager trip in 1974 and then serving on staff in 1976. She describes her trips as formative. “I was an outdoor kid already, but it fed that passion and I am so grateful for the experience. It was an important place to be.”
FROM WIDJIWAGAN TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH
Ann graduated from college in 1981 and became a teacher in St. Paul. She continued to take trips, sometimes with her Widji friends, but always with “a desire to go further and go longer.”
In 1986, explorer Will Steger assembled an expedition to the North Pole. It was the first unsupported dogsled journey, meaning that all gear and supplies were carried with the team without a resupply.
When Ann interviewed for the team, she said she felt “sure I was getting in over my head, but I would never forgive myself if I didn’t try. And they were crazy enough to take me. It was a 56-day journey. Me, five men, 49 male dogs.” That expedition made Ann the first woman to reach the North Pole on foot and by sled.
“I had been expeditioning with friends, but this involved sponsors and media. We didn’t have GPS or technology. They said, ‘What do you want us to do with your body if you don’t make it?’ It changed everything. I became the first woman to the top of the world. I went there because it was my childhood dream to go as far north as I could possibly go. And this was it.”
“I was so ill-equipped for the flurry of attention when we did it. No one was ready for how it grabbed people’s attention, not just in Minnesota but all over the world. That was the same year as the space shuttle disaster with a woman teacher on an adventure that went wrong. It altered the trajectory of my life.”
Despite everything she has accomplished, Ann consistently points back to Widji as a source of inspiration.
“What Widji gave me was the feeling that I could. A place where you could be both serious and silly and where others took you seriously. Those are the kinds of things that Widji laid down to make me think I could dream about those places and take steps to reach them.”
Ann Bancroft’s Major Achievements
1986 First woman to reach the North Pole.
1987 Named Woman of the Year by Ms. Magazine.
1991 Founded the Ann Bancroft Foundation in 1991 to focus on “honoring and encouraging girls and women to reach, explore, and discover their own dreams.”
1992 Leader of the first east–west crossing of Greenland.
1992 Became the first woman to reach both Poles.
92-93 Leader of the first all-female expedition to the South Pole.
1988 Included in “Remarkable Women of the Twentieth Century.”
2001 Second woman to cross Antarctica on foot.
2001 Named Woman of the Year by “Glamour Magazine.”
2005 Induction into the USA National Women’s Hall of Fame.
2011 Named one of history’s greatest polar explorers.
2015 Finished the first Source to Sea Access Water expedition on the Ganges River with seven other women in 2015, covering 1,500 miles in 60 days.
Camp Widjiwagan
Camp Widjiwagan has been providing transformative wilderness experiences for youth from the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeastern Minnesota since 1929. Through wilderness travel and environmental learning experiences, youth participants explore extraordinary places.
1. Laurie Cardozo and Ann reading maps in the duffer seat. 2. L to R Laurie Cardozo, Liz Streeter, Lori Ditlason, Ann, Jean Frantes, Counselor, Jan Bliss. 3. Ann’s backpacker campers at Billings Airport. 4. Ann kept all her memorabilia from her trips at Widji.
PIGEONS, HIDING IN THE ARCHIVES
Amazing tales nearly forgotten, and the historians who saved them: ‘History is inside everyone who has been to camp’
“I was sentenced to be in charge of the pigeon program for a couple of years starting in 1959. It was then that I realized why the telephone got invented,” Ken commented, wryly.
When asked what the most interesting thing she’s uncovered in her work with the archives, Grace Lauer shared that “back in the days before satellite or cell phones, tripping groups would bring carrier pigeons with them on trips. They had aluminum cylinders that the counselors would put a message in and send the birds back to camp. They only had one or two chances to send a message.”
Ken Lippin, Warren counselor and photographer from 1959-62, began working on the Warren archives in 1995. He seconded Grace’s account of the pigeons, adding that when he was on staff at camp his least favorite job was cleaning out the pigeon coops. His favorite memory involved the public reveal of each pigeon’s message.
“A bird would arrive and I would remove a tiny message from the little aluminum capsule attached to the pigeon’s leg. Then I read the message in each of the dining halls — making a big production out of it. A lot of the messages involved pleas to send more toilet paper — mostly as a gag, I hoped. In the midst of all the fun, I had to feed the birds and clean the coop daily. The feeding part was fun.”
In John Rowe’s tapes recounting his time at Warren, he explained how the pigeons connected campers in far-off places.
“Frequently, they [the pigeons] would go out in overnight canoe trips where they might be released on a particular day with
a message. The pigeon crew would check the loft and when the particular pigeon came back they would remove then the message and read it in the first meal in the dining room. … I remember one year where the messages which came back from trips were all kept on file, and at the end of the year many were printed on a page of the Camp Warren “Trails.” They made an interesting reading collection.”
Grace was a YMCA Camp Warren camper for 10 years, a counselor-in-training, and later spent four years on the staff team (2016-19). She currently serves on the board of directors as the camp archivist, alongside her fellow historian, Ken, who spent a breathtaking 30 years in that role.
“History is inside everyone who has been to camp,” Grace said. But it takes someone — or in this case, two someones — to get them to retell it. Ken and Grace are those two people working hard to organize and catalogue the photos, videos and historical documents that have accumulated over the nearly 100 years of Camp Warren’s story-filled history.
Grace and Ken are working towards different goals, looking ahead to camp’s 100th anniversary in 2027.
For Ken, “the hundredth is the impetus to consolidate the history that’s been accumulating.” His goal is to sift through thousands of photographs and find topics of interest, such as buildings that are no longer there or activities the camp doesn’t do anymore. He also plans to get all of the photos cataloged.
I think the Camp Warren experience makes us much more interesting people than we might have otherwise become. Ken
While reflecting on the prep work that will need to be accomplished before that event, Ken laughed and emphasized that despite an 88th birthday in 2027, “I will attend the hundredth, even if I have to crawl up there.”
Grace, too, is eagerly preparing for this significant event and has a goal of putting together two books in time to incorporate them into the celebration. She hopes that the books can be used as a fundraising tool and serve as an official historical document of camp as we set a path to chart the next one hundred years of Warren.
Hours of work, thousands of photos scanned, a century of stories and memories at their fingertips.
In conversations over the summer, Ken and Grace gave us a sneak peak into the incredible photos and stories of the Camp Warren of yesteryear, telling little bits of that long story for the readers of Letters From Camp. Enjoy.
Warren family on the steps of Homaji Lodge in the 1920s
The Camp Warren pigeon coop
“The Camp Warren experience didn’t just happen. It was built over time by a lot of good people, and I think it is important that we retain the memory of this place.” — Ken
Traditional welcome for returning “Border Warriors”
The returning campers put in at the far end of the lake, and the entire camp turns out to welcome them back. “I wouldn’t be who I am without Camp Warren. It instilled in me many of my values, and I experienced a level of belonging that I haven’t found anywhere else. And that camp culture does not survive without storytelling.” — Grace
The Warren Family at Homaji Lodge, 1920s
“I think the Camp Warren experience makes us much more interesting people than we might otherwise have become. Camp changed my life in multiple ways, some of which I was not even conscious of for years. It creates a debt of gratitude. How do you define the Camp Warren spirit? You can’t. Anyone who has lived it knows it.” — Ken.
Ken has worked to enhance grainy, blurry old photos
At right, you can see the difference especially in this face of [Jack Edie] in the photo. “Some of the most important memories I have of camp were learning to see the world through young eyes. The kids had a real sense of wonder at the Warren natural world at hand — whether it was their first glimpse of a bald eagle, standing together and watching a moose swim across the lake, or catching a sunfish on a fly they tied during a fishing activity on a rainy day.” — Ken
The bus arriving at Half Moon Lake in the 1930s
“I had a ten year old camper who was gangly, and looked like the wind would blow him away. He couldn’t do much of anything involving physical coordination. He wanted to swim but couldn’t pass his swim test. Mostly, he lacked confidence. I managed to finally convince him he could pass his test. I let it be known to everyone that he was going to go for it. Half the camp showed up to cheer him on. It was so hard, but he passed that test. Magic happens in character building.” — Ken
John Rowe, 1967 or ’68
“Most of us didn’t appreciate John Rowe until several years after camp. His single-minded emphasis on the quality of experience for campers — everything at camp revolved around campers’ experience and making it the best it could be. In the process, we were having a ball. He communicated that vision in so many ways, unflinchingly, creating an environment of quality and learning and appreciation for so many things. He lived the example.” — Ken
Camp Warren
Camp Warren is nestled amongst white pines on 600 acres near Eveleth, Minnesota. Warren provides the ultimate setting for participants to develop self-reliance, build life-long relationships, and receive mentorship from caring adults with a curriculum focused on skill progression.
Original Photo
Enhanced Photo
FIRST THE GIFT, THEN LETTER
How a chance act of goodwill led to a lifedefining moment nearly eight decades later
This is a story about a letter, written long after camp’s closing song.
A letter so profound, it was read at the recipient’s funeral.
This story begins at Audrey’s house, spans nearly eight decades, and features remarkable characters who serendipitously find one another through the gift of camp, lose touch, yet reunite to find great meaning in their shared connection.
AUDREY AND ROY
After reading “Letters from Camp” in 2023, Audrey Johnson, 96 years young, felt compelled to return to YMCA Camp St. Croix, a place she has loved since her youth. Upon her arrival last fall, camp business administrator, Nick Duchow, gave her a tour.
As the tour progressed, Audrey told him about her love of camp, her late husband Roy, and the important way camp featured in their lives — including at Roy’s funeral.
Audrey was one of the few women to work at Camp St. Croix in 1952 and 1953. She was the office manager, and she really liked working for Executive Director, Jerry Manlove during the 1950’s.
She enjoyed the people and the philosophy of camp. She became lifelong friends with Jack Murdock, (executive
director from 1957-77, who was the waterfront director while she was on staff. Camp, she said, “was so different and separated. The rest of the world didn’t matter.”
After working for camp, Audrey got a job at the newly built Midway YMCA where she met Roy Johnson, a professional musician working for the Y on the side. They were married in 1954.
THE MUSICIAN, MEL
Roy was friends with fellow musician, Mel Carter Sr. When Mel mentioned wanting to send his son to camp in 1961, because Roy and Audrey didn’t have children and with Audrey’s love of Camp St. Croix, it “never seemed like a big deal for us to pay for his son to go.”
Mel and Roy lost touch over the years, but from time to time, Roy would mention “Mel Carter’s kid. He didn’t forget that we sent him to camp, but he never tried to find him.” For Roy, “it wasn’t about being thanked. He was glad he could help a kid go to camp, but it wasn’t defining.”
It has been over 70 years since Audrey last worked at Camp St. Croix. But Audrey has several scrapbooks, written accounts of her time at camp, memorabilia, a strong memory, and the ability to recount story after story.
“We were so fortunate to have the experience,” she said about her time at camp.
MEL’S SON, MELVIN JR.
While Mel and Roy had lost touch, Mel’s son who went to camp, Melvin Carter Jr., spent years trying to find the
Johnsons. Finally, in 2013, a letter arrived at Audrey and Roy’s home.
THE YMCA EXPERIENCE WAS KEY
While Melvin’s letter didn’t go into detail beyond “by the grace of God, I’ve done
October 4, 2013
Dear Mr. Roy Johnson,
My name is Melvin Carter Jr. The year is about 1962. I’m about 12 years old. I don’t know I yet, but the road ahead won’t be that easy. In fact, many of my friends and relatives in my neighborhood ain’t going to make it. As a teenager I’m about the experience the 1960s and face drugs, violence, poverty, multiplicities of crimes, as well as extreme racial unrest. Life is about to throw me confusing and devastating curveballs. But somehow, thank God, I will not meet an early demise, go to prison, or perish in any cataclysmic disaster.
The two boys in this photo are fresh off the YMCA bus returning from Camp St. Croix, one of the best, most meaningful experiences of my formative years. I’m the one in the short sleeve shirt. I’ll spend the next three years as an active Y member, three to four days a week, while my friends will be doing other things.
Over the years, by the grace of God, I’ve done well. Thinking back, seeking to understand how I did not get consumed, the YMCA experience was key. It made a definitive difference that tipped the scale for me, in preparation for the upcoming challenges.
The other guy in the photo is Jimmie Beal, whom you also sponsored. He recently sent this photo from Houston, Texas and was elated that I found you. He too is doing well, says to tell you hello and express his profound gratitude as well.
And now, October 2013, time has passed. Over the decades I’ve searched for this “Roy Johnson guy” whom I only met once, who sponsored two boys that he didn’t even know, who did nothing to deserve it. Eventually I gave up the search.
Ironically, a couple of years ago, Dan Bostrom (who I’ve worked with for over a quarter century) happened to mention his cousin, Roy Johnson, who played sax and worked at “The Y” which was all I knew about you.
Even greater than the search, is the task of finding words to thank you and Mrs. Johnson and expressing the significance in my life. Mere words seem inadequate. Perhaps most meaningful is the spirit of the example you set, and the fact that I’m spending my life replicating. Last week in JDC, one youth asked, “How can you love us when you don’t even know us?” In a brief flash, you came to mind. “Yeah young man”
I thought, “I remember asking the same question.”
In closing, this thank you letter comes from four people. Jimmie Beal, myself, but mainly the two little boys in the photo. May God’s blessing be with you and your family.
Sincerely,
Melvin W. Carter Jr.
well,” as it turns out, he’d done incredibly well. In his 2019 autobiography, “Diesel Heart,” he covers his life story in detail. He spent two years serving in the U.S. Navy. In 1975 he met and married his wife Willetha and together they raised their three children Anika, Melvin III, and Alanna (they are also the grandparents of 12 children).
Melvin was sworn in as a police officer in 1976 and had a 28-year career with the St. Paul Police Department, reaching the rank of SergeantInvestigator before retiring in 2003. In 1994, using his own money, he founded the nonprofit organization Save Our Sons, mentoring young men in the Ramsey County Juvenile Detention Center.
He continues to serve as its executive director. He said, “Camp helped me understand that the world was a bigger place than just my immediate neighborhood. It gave me a sense that I could love my neighbor. I got a sense that what I did mattered.”
Melvin earned his bachelor’s degree from St. John’s University the year after he retired. In 2005, his wife would become the first Black
county commissioner in the state of Minnesota. And his son, Melvin Carter III? Well, if the name sounds familiar there’s a reason for it. He’s the current mayor of the City of St. Paul.
His list of accomplishments (as well as those of his family) is long and his story is that of a life well lived.
A REUNION BEFORE THE FUNERAL
After Melvin found Roy Johnson and sent him the letter, they met together with Audrey in person. He was happy to finally connect and thank them for “the profound gift they gave me.”
Roy Johnson died just three months after receiving the letter and meeting Melvin.
They both acknowledged feeling a sense that this was no coincidence.
At the funeral, Audrey asked Melvin to read the letter. And in the acknowledgements of Melvin’s book, he thanks Roy.
Since Roy’s funeral in 2013, Audrey and Melvin Jr. have kept in touch and both speak warmly and
Camp helped me understand that the world was a bigger place than just my immediate neighborhood.
Melvin Jr.
with affection about the other. Their relationship has been reciprocal and transformational, proving that there’s no such thing as “just” a summer experience at a YMCA camp.
Put another way, while the story starts with the Johnsons opening a door for Melvin Jr. to a relatively brief summer experience, it ends with
Melvin speaking words that define Roy’s entire life, sharing some of the last public sentiments ever expressed about him.
Camp St. Croix
Founded in 1909, Camp St. Croix is situated on 400 acres of woods, prairies, gardens, and pine-covered bluffs overlooking the St. Croix River National Scenic Riverway. Camp St. Croix is a perfect place for kids, teens, families, adults, and organizations to connect with nature and each other.
Audrey saved dozens of photos and made multiple scrapbooks chronicling her time on staff, some of which appear here.
1. Melvin Carter. 2. Audrey at camp in 1952.
3. Melvin and Jimmy just off the bus from Camp St. Croix, 1962. 4. Audrey and Nick Duchow at camp in 2023. 5. 1952 Camp St. Croix staff photo, Audrey is in the front row, third from the left. 6. Photos from Audrey’s scrapbook.
A SURPRISE DELUGE DIVIDES CAMP DU NORD
Meteorological adversity drew a community together amidst nature’s drama
Like all rainfall, it started with just a few fat drops falling from a grey sky that afternoon.
The campers and team had no way of knowing this storm was about to cut camp in half.
Nor did they know that it would bring out some of the very best in the people and community at camp.
It was the season’s first session, a Tuesday — June 18. Karen Solas, a camper and former board member at YMCA Camp Northern Lights, was back for her eighth summer as a camper at YMCA Camp du Nord.
“It was a lot of rain but not extraordinary. I recorded the rain pouring off the roof because it was seriously intense, but it never crossed my mind that it was that extra.”
Karen had been in the camp store getting ice cream with her kids. “The power flickered, but it stayed on. ... It only rained about an hour or so, and then the rain slowed
down, so we decided to go outside and walk around.”
They couldn’t believe what they saw.
Walking down the path from the camp store, the Solas family came to Moose Drool Creek — now a rushing river, gushing over the path, soon to wash it away. To their right, the majestic Burntside Lake had filled to the brim. The beloved du Nord beach was almost entirely underwater.
Deep into the woods stood Slim Lake, a gateway to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Known for cold, pristine waters, it is surrounded by steep hills and towering red and white pines. It had overfilled, sending cascades of water down the slope toward Burntside Lake and Camp du Nord.
The normal outflowing creeks, Moose Drool included, had become engorged. One such creek, otherwise unnamed, flowed down the hill, under the North Arm Road, and to a culvert, which it soon blocked. With nowhere else to go, the
water ran down the North Arm, following a driveway leading to the Family Arts Center, platform cabins, and tent sites.
In moments, the water cut a deep gash in the North Arm, making it impassible, then washed away the driveway. The water fell into a ravine, crashing against the sides of the Family Arts Center (FAC) and the Angell Bridge as it did so, and finally flowed out into Burntside.
2 3
Karen and her family came across the scene and could see the FAC surrounded by water. Everything east of there, including all of Pine Pointe Village, was unreachable from the western half of camp.
Program Director Cole Davis-Roberts said that in the morning, there had been a tornado watch, so there were already many people in the
Camp had been cut in two.
Seeing how camp handled the crisis was confidence inspiring. It’s one thing to have a good experience when things are going right. But it’s when things go wrong that show you what they are made of.
Karen
FAC. “Then the rain started pouring down.”
Thankfully, every person at camp came through physically unharmed. But people had been stranded. When the storm struck, families were divided on opposite sides of camp. The road out of camp was blocked. The septic had been overwhelmed.
At that moment, the du Nord community got to work.
SCOTT OLSON AND ANDY GIBBS
While campers were inside their cabins playing board games and waiting for the rain to subside, behind the scenes was a different story.
Camp Property Manager Scott Olson got a walkie-talkie call while he was at home getting his raincoat and boots.
“The roads were passable when I left, but I had to walk about a mile on the way back.” Upon returning to camp, he calmly expressed, “It’s flooding. Let’s get to work.”
Recounting her story, Karen found the team already at work when she came upon the FAC. Scott and Caretaker Andy Gibbons were hard at work, beginning to build a bridge out of picnic tables to help get people out of the FAC and back to their families.
It was just the first of many priorities the two would address that week.
“Scott and Andy deliver,” said Executive Director Andy Sinykin. “Their care for camp knows no bounds. Time of day, place, condition, doesn’t matter. They lead by example.”
COMMUNITY
Karen explained, “What stood out to me was how much confidence Scott and Andy instilled in everyone. They were like, ‘Yep, we got this,’ and there was never a sense that they were panicking. They had everything under control. They talked with everyone. Answered questions — it kept everyone calm. They involved campers and made us feel like part of the solution. It was good to feel helpful.”
Scott recalled that people — that week’s campers started asking almost immediately what needed to be done and how they could help. On Wednesday morning, more than 30 people volunteered to clean out the flooded program spaces, sanitize everything that had gotten wet, mop, and dig a channel to get the water out. At the FAC, people were digging out debris that had gotten washed under the building and moving rocks that had tumbled down along the shoreline.
Program Director Emily Weise observed, “We have the best campers in the whole world. The sense of community is unmatched. It is amazing to watch.”
“Scott had plans and backup plans, knew what needed to be addressed, and just did it. He made everyone feel like everything was totally fine,” Karen said. “Seeing how camp handled the crisis was confidence-inspiring. It’s one thing to have a good experience when things are going right. But it’s when things go wrong that show you what they are made of.”
Scott has been at du Nord for 35 years and is calm, easy-going, and humble. Hearing him recount the flood, one might think it wasn’t much more than a typical day at work. “Every day, we have a list of what tasks or projects we want to work on, but it’s always loose because priorities change when things come up. We roll with it.”
GOING HOME
Despite early concerns that campers might be stuck at camp days longer than the scheduled departure, by Friday, the road was restored, and, other than a few areas needing additional clean-up, camp was back to normal.
Andy Sinykin shared, “I know that there’s so much care and passion — love — for camp, in any situation, that near and far people come out to support us. There are many hands that keep camp healthy and strong — both staff and campers.”
1. Moose Drool Road flooded. 2. Scott Olson updating campers on the status of the flooding at camp. 3. Flooded du Nord. 4. The washed out road was impassable. 5. Fixing
Camp du Nord
THE ORION FIRE ADDS NEW LIGHT TO THE NORTHERN LIGHTS STORY
Shock and disbelief lead to an outpouring of love and support
It’s 7:05 am on Sunday, June 16 and the phone rings in the program director’s cabin.
Jude: “Hey Isaac, I think Orion burned down.”
I: “What do you mean?”
J: “Well, there are some fires going, and the building isn’t there.”
Summer staff, Jude Ogden and Jake Ball, were driving from the staff lounge to the boat launch to pick up the Leadership Development Program (LDP) participants who were on their overnight camping trip. They were the first people to discover the overnight disaster.
“It felt like I was in a dream. Jake looked at me and said, ‘are you seeing this’ and we were just in stunned silence for about three seconds before I called Isaac, and Jake called Dan (O’Brien, executive
director at Northern Lights). The rest of the morning was a blur,” Jude shared.
As it turns out, it wasn’t just that morning that became a blur. It was the next few days.
Upon their discovery, emergency action procedures kicked in. The first thing Isaac did was meet with the staff team to make sure everyone was safely accounted for.
He described the scene, “Jude was standing there with his head in his hands, Dan was calling 911, and then I called Sam Kujawa, (CNL Property Manager), who was mid-bike ride on his day off. He hopped into a dump truck and came rushing over.The police were the first to arrive and shortly after that, the fire department.
While first responders moved into the scene, Isaac gathered
Jude was standing there with his head in his hands, Dan was calling 9-1-1... Isaac
the staff to break the news. “Everyone was in shock and disbelief. But we were still expecting camper families to arrive that afternoon, and camp needed to be cleaned. So, everyone started cleaning and preparing for camp.”
Orion is arguably the most critical building during the summer as it houses the LDPs and is also the site of the commercial kitchen that provides meals for staff, LDPs and certain families camping in the tent sites. According to Isaac, “there are about five nights of the whole summer that LDPs are not in Orion and luckily that was one of them.” In between the two weeks that make up the LDP session, LDPs, spend Saturday night on a camping trip out on Bear Island Lake, which is where
they were when the building caught fire. With staff housing in a different location and no campers around because it was Saturday night, “no one was on that side of camp.”
Investigators think that the fire started in the middle of the night and burned until it was discovered that morning. “Unfortunately, the first week of camp was really rainy. But it turns out that was the reason that whole side of camp is still standing. Some of the nearby trees were scorched, but everything else was fine. We got lucky with the weather, after all.”
Dan, Isaac, and two assistant summer program directors, Grace Johnson and Miles McGuire, spent most of Sunday on the phone.
They called LDP parents to let them know what happened and that the LDPs were going to have to come home a week early. They called camper families and delayed their arrival until later in the week.
In addition to housing and the kitchen, Orion also housed the main pump and electrical center for six nearby cabins, the bathhouse, and the Back of the Beyond Village.
“Half of Buena Vista didn’t have electricity or water. Initially, we were worried it wouldn’t be back for a long time,” Isaac shared.
This left the Northern Lights team with three distinct goals: 1) find a new way to feed staff, LDPs, and some campers; 2) get folks back to camp as quickly as possible; and 3) create new housing for the LDPs. In just that order, they got it done.
On Tuesday morning, camp leaders met with the team at YMCA Camp du Nord and devised a short-term plan for their kitchen to provide meals for Northern Lights staff. Little did they suspect, that same Tuesday afternoon, du Nord would begin battling its own natural disaster — a flood that washed out the
Dan and Isaac, with support from Michel Tigan, YMCA of the North’s vice president of adventure and camp operations, immediately started working on contingency plans to get camp back to business as quickly as possible.
By Monday afternoon, Sam, the property manager, had trusted local contractors onsite to help restore power, water, and gas to all of Buena Vista and Back of Beyond villages. And fueled by sandwiches hand-delivered by YMCA of the North President Glen Gunderson, the team set to work.
had secured an option to rent kitchen space for the summer at the Ely Senior Center. Isaac shared, “It was 20 minutes away and not ideal, but it would work for the summer.” Two challenges down, and one to go.
With LDP lodging gone, camp leadership made a plan to welcome them back by July 7—just three weeks later. It took a really good friend and one extra week, but it got done.
Learning about the disaster as a member of the YMCA of the North’s board of directors,
road, leaving campers and staff stranded and both the North Arm Road and Echo Trail impassible. Undaunted and in typical heroic fashion (see story, page 14), on Wednesday of that week, du Nord staff nevertheless crossed Burntside Lake by boat, delivering 19 pans of food and gallons of ice cream to a hungry Northern Lights staff team.
By Wednesday afternoon, Dan, Isaac, Sam, and all the rest, had camp up and running, welcoming camper families for a shortened week of programming. And by Thursday, Northern Lights
Half of Buena Vista didn’t have electricity or water. Initially, we were worried it wouldn’t be back for a long time. Isaac would provide housing for the remainder of the summer. Weeks after the disaster, Executive Director Dan O’Brien said, “Programming is up and running and the staff are crushing it. The outpouring of love and support from campers, board members, and several businesses in Ely has been amazing. It was really sad not to have the LDPs at camp for a few weeks because they are such a huge part of our program. But it’s been a great summer and we will continue to run the best possible summer program for every family who steps foot on Camp Northern Lights.”
Camp Northern Lights
Bob Gardner, also a YMCA family camper and donor, offered to help.
As the owner of Gardner Builders with offices as close as Duluth, Bob was well positioned to lend some aid. Bob and his team donated time, leadership, and materials to create an entirely new LDP platform tent village in record time. Gardner Builders built wooden decks in their Duluth shop while Sam and the Northern Lights team completed site prep and foundation work. Gardner Builders brought the decks on site, and the team installed the new canvas tents that
Located on Bear Island Lake near the edge of the Superior National Forest, Camp Northern Lights offers an incredible variety of seasonal activities for families to enjoy throughout the year with 130 acres of trails and woods for families to explore.
Founded in 2019, Northern Lights is the perfect destination for families looking for a firsttime camping experience or groups interested in trying a new experience like mountain biking or cross-country skiing.
1. What is left of Orion after the fire. 2. LDPs helping assemble the new platform tents. 3. Orion wreckage after the fire. 4. The first LDP group to use the new platform tents. 5. Be the light campaign sign in the location of the future dining hall. 6. Bear Island Lake at sunset.
A CAMPAIGN FOR CAMP NORTHERN LIGHTS BE THE LIGHT
With the unfolding of a sudden fire at YMCA Camp Northern Lights on June 16, the YMCA launched an emergency fundraising appeal to support rebuilding efforts and other challenges associated with the disaster.
This effort piggy-backed on a much larger, though quieter,
effort to raise $8 million for a new lodge and dining hall to serve the entire community at Northern Lights. Dubbed the “Be the Light” campaign, the effort was already two years old by summer of 2024.
The lodge will include dining and event space for up to 250 people, a patio and deck
overlooking the lake, a muchneeded storm shelter for families staying in tent sites, and year-round multi-purpose space for programs and events.
The fire only served to underscore the urgency of funding and building this new facility as quickly as possible.
ymcanorth.org/bethelight
If you want to support this campaign, please visit ymcanorth.org/bethelight to make a gift.
Contact Executive Director Dan O’Brien at daniel. obrien@ymcamn.org for more information.
ADVENTURES WITH NORTHWEST PASSAGE
A unique high school inspired — and led — by Icaghowan alumni
What do a charter school and YMCA Camp Icaghowan have in common?
As it turns out, a whole lot more than you might think.
Jason Olson was a first-year counselor at Camp Icaghowan in 1995 and shared a significant moment from that summer.
“My first year, my first cabin, I had a camper who was a terror. He didn’t get camp, wasn’t excited about camp and he made our lives miserable. My co-counselor and I did our best all week but I felt out of my depth and wondered what I got myself into. I also had poison ivy all over my legs and towards the end of the week, I had to go to the hospital because of the blisters.”
“When I got back to camp, the first camper I saw was him. He came running up to me and threw his arms around me and said, ‘oh my gosh, I was so worried about you! Are you ok?’ In that moment, I realized you don’t always get the instant recognition, you don’t always witness the impact you have on others. It comes out in surprising ways. I never saw him again, but that moment was so powerful and was part of how I decided on my future career.”
Jason would go on to work five summers at Icaghowan and then five years full time before leaving camp to become a teacher at Northwest Passage High School in 2005.
He’s not the only Icaghowan staff member to follow that path.
1. Northwest Passage students working on a service project at Camp Icaghowan. 2. Jamie Zuel, Peter Wieczorek, and
Chuck Hoppe circa 2000.
“We jokingly refer to the school as the home for wayward camp staff. There are a lot of us.”
Camp Icaghowan has become a transformative inspiration for Northwest Passage High School in Coon Rapids, and the school has returned the favor; a source of impactful relationships, volunteer service, new campers, and future staff.
I learned a lot about how important it is to have a relationship with students, where respect is given on both sides. Those relationships make me a good teacher.
Amber
Founded in 1999, Northwest Passage High School (NWPHS) is a charter school serving students in grades 9-12, the educational focus is on project based and experiential learning.
Peter Wieczorek was on the Icaghowan staff from 1996-2004 and is currently serving as board chair. When he was the program director, he developed the teen leadership program. His close friend Jamie Steckart was director of Northwest Passage and in 2000 approached Peter about bringing students to camp to go through the leadership program. That was the beginning of what would become a lasting partnership.
NWPHS students are divided into small group advisories. The school website describes them as small communities “where students collaborate, communicate, and create, with and alongside their peers.” Advisors are coaches, mentors, educators, and role models “working together with the students to create a welcoming and inclusive environment.”
The school has been intentional in allowing camp to influence their educational model. In addition to Peter, Jason and Chuck (who have been on staff for nearly two decades), there is a long list of people who have been on staff at both Icaghowan and NSPHS. Leah Bauman-Smith, Cate Carlis, Ruth Hein, Nancy Hoppe, Amber Huitzilin Ortiz, Nicole Ketchem, Brooklyn Otto, Jake Porath, and Sam Wright ... to name a few.
Amber Huitzilin Ortiz shared, “Between Icaghowan and Northwest Passage, I learned a lot about how important it is to have a relationship with students, where respect is given on both sides. Those relationships make me a good teacher.”
There are countless stories of the impact camp has on the individuals who get to experience camp as a camper, staff, parent or volunteer. But in this case, the profound effect of camp has shaped an entire school.
Northwest Passage would continue to bring students to camp each year for leadership development. Peter recruited fellow Icaghowan alum Jason and Chuck Hoppe to join the Northwest teaching staff in 2004.
Peter, along with Jamie and the other members of the original NWPHS team, wanted to transform the school model, using camp as the inspiration. “Building community, the cabin experience, circles, reflection after doing things, being outside, outdoor learning, hands on learning, expeditions. I knew how impactful the trips were at camp, and we wanted to see that in a school.” In 2010 Peter became the director of NWPHS.
If that reminds you of a cabin at camp, it’s not a coincidence.
Also from the school website: “At Northwest Passage High School we believe learning is not confined to a classroom or textbook. We believe in being curious, asking questions, pursuing passions, and learning from our experiences, whether from the people and community around us or on learning expeditions far from home. Expeditions are an opportunity to be immersed in learning experiences and life lessons that students take with them beyond high school.”
The school offers 25-30 learning expeditions in both wilderness and urban settings each year. Students are encouraged to go on one each year.
If that reminds you of camp trips, that’s also not a coincidence.
2
The impact of Camp Icaghowan on Northwest Passage High School is strong. But NWPHS also impacts camp. NSPHS brings groups of volunteers to camp each year to do service work, students attend camp as campers and also work on staff. Peter said, “There is such a strong relationship between the Icaghowan and Northwest Passage communities — so much overlap with people from both worlds.”
Camp Icaghowan Executive Director Georgia Ellingson said, “We love our relationship with Northwest Passage High School. We are happy to provide a space and opportunities for students to participate in hands-on learning outdoors. Whether they are trekking through the snow for a winter camping expedition or helping us with spring service projects, they always bring their passion and excitement for adventure and the outdoors, while being responsible stewards of this space. The relationship with NWPHS goes back decades and we look forward to many more.”
Camp Icaghowan
Founded in 1908, Camp Icaghowan is Wisconsin’s premier overnight camp for kids seeking a small community environment. Set in 120 beautiful acres of oak savanna adjoining Lake Wapogasset, Icaghowan features three tree houses nestled in the forest canopies and a 44-acre island.
Camp Ihduhapi
experiences since
Camp Ihduhapi has provided enriching camp
1929. Situated on 165 acres of vibrant maple forest along the shores of Lake Independence, Ihduhapi is the perfect place for youth and adults to learn new skills, build confidence, and create lifelong memories.
THEY NEVER THOUGHT THEY COULD A PLACE PEOPLE TAKE STEPS
by Jim Levi
I had never heard of “outdoor learning” or Camp Ihduhapi when I saw the advertisement 25 years ago. The Y was looking for challenge course facilitators, and even though I wasn’t exactly sure what that meant I liked the idea of working outside with groups of all ages.
I was invited to tag along with a group for an afternoon, and that day I learned that the job was giving groups the opportunity to challenge themselves both as a team and as individuals in a safe, supportive environment. I was hooked.
I had been facilitating for a couple years when the high school group came to camp for a program in May. The school called them “alternative learners:” kids who weren’t succeeding in the mainstream classrooms for a variety of reasons. Our morning was spent doing low-to-the-ground group challenges, and the group excelled. They were excited to try the high-ropes. After a few steps I knew I wasn’t afraid of heights.
When we reached the climbing challenge that day in May most of the participants were thrilled: they couldn’t wait to put on harnesses and start up the ladder. James walked away. I asked if he wanted to climb, and he shook his head. He knew our philosophy is
“Challenge by Choice” and it was fine to choose not to. Then I asked if he wanted to put on a harness and belay. He hesitated, then shrugged his shoulders. “Sure.”
On many of the climbing challenges at Ihduhapi the participant’s safety is in the hands of the members of their group, who hold the belay rope that keeps the climber safe as they ascend the challenge. James joined one of the belay teams, and the first climber stepped to the ladder.
The first few participants attacked the challenge and climbed with great focus and energy as their teammates kept them safe and cheered them on. Some made it to the top of the challenge, others not as high, but all were celebrated by the team. As the next climber readied to go up, James walked over to me.
“I want to climb now.”
I looked to the next climber, who smiled and stepped away so James could go.
I connected his harness to the ropes and ran through the safety checks with the group so he would know they were ready to support him. They pulled the ropes
I want to climb now. James
tight so he could feel their support through his harness. Following protocol he hesitantly called out, “Climbing.” His team roared back, “Climb on!”
James walked to the ladder. He grabbed the side rails and took one step, his team keeping the ropes tight as he went up. He stood on that first step, breathed deeply for a few seconds, and then stepped back to the ground.
“Off belay,” he said quietly. “Belay off!” shouted his team, and they put the ropes down and ran over to congratulate him. They knew that this one step for James had been his Everest. I glanced over at their teacher, who had a smile that let me know how important this moment was.
It’s hard for me to easily describe the impact on my own life of working on the challenge course at Ihduhapi. I’ve been able to offer many hundreds of people and groups the opportunity to challenge themselves and step outside their comfort zones to see what they could achieve both together and as individuals in a physically and emotionally safe and secure environment. Those experiences have changed me in countless ways.
And I’ve been lucky enough to witness and help people take steps they never thought they could. People like James.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jim Levi joined the Ihduhapi staff as a facilitator in 1999, then took a break to get a fulltime job and start a family in 2010. His children, now 13 and 11, have attended camp at Ihduhapi, and Jim rejoined the staff in 2023. Jim’s career is as a film and television writer.
WE’RE LOOKING FOR GUEST WRITERS
Do you have a story about your camp experience? We want to include you in our next issue.
THE MENOGYN SHUFFLE
The decades-old tradition is a carefully choreographed dance to prepare campers to head out on trail
It’s not just about the canoes and the packs. Or the maps, the route, and the gear. The food is essential, and so is the teamwork!
It’s the Menogyn Shuffle.
Campers have been prepping to go on trail since camp’s first summer. At YMCA Camp Menogyn, this process, affectionately referred to as “the Menogyn Shuffle,” has become a rite of passage for
every single camper, every single year, whether they need to be on trail for three days or 40.
The Shuffle gives groups an opportunity to test all their gear, learn about the places they will be traveling to, and to begin to form their own community. It’s about the people, the planning, the preparation, and the packing. And this is how it looks.
TRAIL DEPARTMENT
In this step, groups plan and pack their meals when they arrive. Planning a trail menu requires balancing the nutrients with the treats, considering calorie consumption, and accommodating dietary restrictions — not to mention creating some real fun and anticipation for cooking on trail!
EQUIPMENT ROOM
In this step, campers learn about Leave No Trace principles to take care of the areas they will travel through and are outfitted with all the gear that their group will need.
Although some campers bring most of their own gear, Menogyn has a large library of loaner gear to make camp a more accessible space for everyone. The most borrowed items are backpacks, sleeping bags, boots, rain gear, and dry bags.
BACKPACK DEMO
At this point, campers go over the fundamental skills for the trip they are going on — canoeing or backpacking.
SWIM AND SWAMP
This is the opportunity for campers to demonstrate their swimming comfort and to practice self-rescuing a flipped canoe. Although uncommon, groups go through what to do if they do have an accidental canoe flip so that everyone can stay safe and be prepared.
YORK FACTORY
In this step of the process, campers choose the boats they are taking on trail and talk about how to care properly for their canoes while on trail. Menogyn has a large fleet of canoes including kevlar, plastic, aluminum, wood canvas, and cedar strip boats, allowing groups to test out a variety of different boats while on their trip.
HEALTH OFFICER HEADING OUT
In this step of the process, campers meet with the Menogyn Health Officer to talk about health and safety while they are on their trip and have their individual assessments to clear them for the trail.
The Health Officer checks to make sure that everyone is going into the trip at a healthy baseline, and discusses any medical concerns that campers might have individually before the trip.
The Shuffle always ends the same way: Campers head out from camp by boat, some for trips nearby, others to far-flung places. The Shuffle always leads to adventure.
Camp Menogyn
Since 1922, Camp Menogyn has provided transformative small-group wilderness experiences including canoeing, backpacking, and rock-climbing trips. Only accessible by water, Camp Menogyn is uniquely situated on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness on West Bearskin Lake.
LETTERS FROM ALUMNI
Mark Dobbelmann, Icaghowan staff alumni and super-sleuth responded to our request from the April 2024 issue. On the back cover, we shared photos of seven of the eight first directors from each camp. But we couldn’t find a photo of Wallace Clark, director of Camp Widjiwagan from 1931-33.
But Mark did!
He sent the following note:
We Found Wallace!
Thank you, Mark!
In regards to having no picture of Wallace Clark for the last page image, I am pretty sure it is the Roy Wallace Clark in the attached obituary photo I found in Mpls. Tribune from Monday, October 4, 1948. The article mentions he was also a “former Director of St. Paul YMCA.”
Amber Huitzilin Ortiz
Camp Icaghowan
Amber was 30 years old in 2014. She was changing careers, had just ended a relationship and “I was in the middle of a reinvention of myself.” She saw a Craigslist ad for a camp counselor position at Icaghowan. When she got to camp, it was her first introduction to the outdoors, having grown up in Los Angeles in an urban environment. She fell in love with camp and spent the next four years on summer staff, hosting on the offseason and “going back to camp any chance I got.” From camp, she took a teaching position at Northwest Passage High School.
When she and her fiancé Ilan decided they were going to get married, choosing a ceremony at Camp Icaghowan was meaningful to Amber. “Getting married at camp was the closing of a character arc. Camp was there for me when I felt like I was lost and was the beginning of my journey in growth. The reward of that growth was being ready for this marriage.”
Amber and Ilan were married on March 9, 2024 in a ceremony at the Icaghowan chapel with a backdrop of the sun setting over the lake. They were surrounded by a small group of family and friends.
Gretchen SageMartinson
Camp St. Croix, Camp du Nord
The Moth Radio Hour is a unique show that starts with a theme and audience members put their names in a hat. If chosen, they get up and tell their story without notes. Gretchen Sage-Martinson, camper and staff alumni from Camp St. Croix and camper alumni from Camp du Nord told her first story for The Moth 8 years ago, and another last year. Her latest story was so well received, she won the “Story Slam” competition and was invited back to be in the Grand Slam competition on March 20, 2024.
The theme for the night was “A Point of Beauty” and she told a story about her 9-day canoe trip at Camp St. Croix in 1979. There were 1,000 people in the audience at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, and she described it as a “raucous 5 minutes” and was worried she wouldn’t finish in time because people were laughing so hard.
Gretchen said that storytelling started for her at camp. “It’s rainy and you’re wet. It can either suck or you can make your own fun and make it work.”
The message of her story is one of empowerment, selfconfidence, and strength, and also, it is hilarious adult humor. Fair warning, this video contains descriptions of activity that wouldn’t be allowed on camp trips today, as well as one bad word at the end.
1. Gretchen (second from left) with the girls from her story. Counselor Kristin Miller is in the front row. Michelle (third from left) and Leslie center) were both at The Moth when Gretchen shared her story.
2. Gretchen on stage at the Moth. Photo by the Moth and Courtney Deutz
LETTER FROM THE VP
The start of the 2024 camping season was truly one for the books at our YMCA Camps. A colossal fire took down our commercial kitchen and Leadership Development Program housing at Northern Lights, historic floods washed out roads and entryways at Widjiwagan, and du Nord, and high winds and rain brought Menogyn offline.
Amidst the chaos and challenges, I was reminded that we are not alone. Though at times it may feel like we’re on islands, leading without headlamps in the dark, our community turns on the light, holds us in our fatigue, and grounds us in the essence of togetherness.
The stories that rose from these hardships echo a singular truth: we are held together by the unwavering support of our campers, volunteers, board members, alumni, friends, and community. It was our campers who picked up shovels and, alongside our staff, rebuilt trails and roads. Board members and friends sent care packages to staff affected by the fires. Local businesses donated food, labor, supplies and support to nourish our teams and get back to business, and team members lifted up the needs of other team members to ensure everyone felt cared for.
Camp is a place of wonder, adventure, experience, connection, and play. Yet, it also brings moments of injury, sadness, storms, swamped canoes, and disappointment. It’s in these moments that you discover the leader within and the helpers around you. Voices from past leaders, on whose shoulders we stand, remind us: “You can do this, keep going, it will be worth it when the hardship is past.” And as every guide will tell you, the sun does come out.
These reminders reinforce that even when times are hard and the path forward is unclear, we are strong enough, clever enough, driven enough, and united in community enough to persevere. The trials we face reveal our resilience, creativity, and the powerful support of our camp family. We are bound together by shared challenges and triumphs, and it is this unbreakable bond that lights our way, even in the darkest times.
Thank you to all of you who reminded us that we can, that we are not alone, and that, indeed, the sun does come out.
In gratitude and with a humble heart,
I am repeatedly struck by the heart of the community that beats loudly within each of our camps. This heart has drummed on for over 100 years, weaving together one relationship after another, creating an enduring tapestry of support and connection. This is the essence of our work, a work that knits together lives and builds a resilient, compassionate community.
Michel Tigan
MICHEL TIGAN Vice President of Adventure and Camp Operations
ALL ARE WELCOME
When we hired a director of alumni philanthropy in 2021 (hello Natalie King!), our team had one goal in mind: to create a space, network, and community where people could come together to share and celebrate their love for YMCA camp experiences.
Our partners in the field had expressed interest in wanting resources to expand alumni events, swag, and communications. And we, as the YMCA of the North, said, yes — let’s do this together!
While each location holds a unique history and unique experiences, we could see the potential in bringing together Ihduhapi, Icaghowan, Menogyn, St. Croix, Widjiwagan, Warren, du Nord, and Northern Lights into one unifying alumni experience.
This magazine, “Letters from Camp,” now in its fourth iteration, was the seedling. In the short time since its launch, we’ve heard our readers share enthusiasm and excitement for “Letters” repeatedly. With that step taken, our individual camps have uniformly leaned into a more intentional embrace of alumni-focused offerings and experiences. More will come.
also looking for easy ways to offset expenses and keep this network accessible to all.
Do you like what we’re doing? Do you want to see it continue? More importantly, do you want to support, sustain and advance the mission of YMCA camping? Then please, make a gift today.
There is a donation envelope in this magazine. You can fill that out and mail it back, or use the QR code provided below.
Whether your contribution is a one-time donation or a recurring sustaining donation, your gift of any size will impact the future of this publication and the expansion of additional alumni offerings.
Make a gift to our Kids to Camp campaign, to just one camp, or to many, but please join us in the early stages of this alumni network development by supporting the future of this programming with a donation today.
In partnership,
As we look to a future of offerings for YMCA alumni here in the magazine and beyond, we’re
