In this issue:
Dean Training Dates
Camp Allegheny is doing something entirely new for Dean’s trainings this year. We’ve heard the feedback from Deans saying that they are tired of sitting through the same training with the same basic information every year. That is why we are having 3 trainings of two different types for deans. The first training is for First Year Deans and will be held on Saturday March 7, 2009, from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. The second type is for Returning deans and will be held on Thursday March 19 and Saturday March 21 of 2009 from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM. Lunch will be provided. All deans are expected to make it to a training in order to be leadership at Camp Allegheny this year.
Again, those trainings are:
- Saturday March 7, 2009 from 9:00 to 3:00 – New deans
- Thursday march 19, 2009 from 9:00 to 12:00 – returning deans
- Saturday March 21, 2009 from 9:00 to 12:00 – returning deans
New Resources are Coming Soon - www.campallegheny.org/support/deans/index.htm
Camp Allegheny says Thank You
When the year-round staff asked each other what we could to say “Thank You” to the volunteers who make Camp Allegheny’s Summer Camp great, we struggled! We cannot express our gratitude to the degree that we would like to, but decided that, in addition to the Volunteer Appreciation Dinner, we would do what we can by offering a public Thank You to each person that came as a volunteer or summer staff at Camp Allegheny this year. We did this on our website, and you can see it at www.campallegheny.org/summercamp/08volunteers.html. We also decided that each volunteer is getting a 50% raise in 2009! Thanks for being a team player!
Searching for Summer Staff
You all know the powerful ways that camp can change lives! You’ve all experienced it. Some of you have even experienced the change that comes from being on full-time summer staff. Camp Allegheny is committed to helping young adults and older teens grow as Christian leaders. Campers and their growth are our first priority. Our summer staff are not second priority, they just can’t be first. We have many positions that require many different skill sets, from Office or Maintenance Assistant, to Adventure/ Naturalist, to Counselors and Wranglers.
You all have access to young adults and older teens, whether through your church, your peers, or your kids, that we may never be able to reach without your help. If you know someone that you think would benefit from spending a summer at camp, please direct them to the online application and encourage them to apply. You could even print an application and hand it to them (www.campallegheny.org/jobs/staffapplication.pdf). It may change their life. I (Nate) would never have applied for a job at a camp if my pastor hadn’t handed me an application!
See this eNewsletter and all future eNewsletters on our website at www.campallegheny.org!
Volunteer Manual Rewrite Underway
Camp Allegheny has decided that it was time to give the Volunteer Manual a complete overhaul. We have worked hard to improve the quality of the camping program over the past few years and a number of things had changed. Part of the difficulty of keeping information up-to-date was that we had 3 different manuals for paid summer staff, volunteer counselors, and deans. Unfortunately this meant that updates often were missed in one or another of the manuals.
In order to avoid this in the future, the new manual will be for all three groups of Camp Allegheny staff. A strong table of contents will help individuals find the information they need quickly, and information that is specifically for Deans is clearly marked as such. While it is not necessary for your counselors to know this information, it may help them to understand how the program works in its entirety. It is our hope that the new organization, format, and updated information in the Volunteer & Summer Staff Manual will allow Camp Allegheny to provide the smoothest, most fun, and highest quality camp experience to every child and youth that comes here!
Authentic Leadership
Each of us, no matter whether we volunteer, work at Camp Allegheny all summer long, or work at camp throughout the year, is a leader at Camp Allegheny. We each make decisions that affect the lives and experiences of the children, youth, and adults that come to Camp. For many of us, the magnitude of the power and responsibility that God has placed in our hands could overwhelm us if we took the time to think about it. For many others, the responsibility is not as hard to bear as the expectations carried by other people of what a Christian leader should be.
In a recent issue of their InSite magazine the Christian Camp and Conference Association interviewed Sally Morgenthaler, author of the book Worship Evanagelism and contributor to “An Emergent Manifesto of Hope.” She said of our leaders: “I’ve seen so much of a tendency for church leaders to become people other than they’re wired to be, to project images rather than their authentic selves, to live in schizophrenia.” Rick Rigsby, a Professor of Communications at Texas A&M and the chaplain of the Aggies football team, says in an Amercan Camp Association article that the way that we can best influence youth in the short time we have at camp is “by being an authentic person, by being who you were created to be, and by being the best you that you can possibly be.”
None of us is perfect. Too often we are afraid that people will see our imperfections and find them revolting. We believe that we will lose the respect of our campers and peers if they see that we aren’t so great, or sometimes even good, at the Christian “thing.” We believe the lie that we are the only ones struggling and, most frighteningly, our campers believe it about themselves.
