2011 Punxsutawney Camp Friendship By Camp Director Ranee Sikora
We held a ten day camp full of sunshine
and smiles from June 8- June 17th , June 29th, and July 2nd. Each
day, teachers provided activities in art, music, gym, and nature
study. Participants made drums, created family portraits out of
nature items, planted flowers, created spray dyed pillowcases, played water
balloon baseball, and played with parachutes. We were also able to use
the camp pond to fish with the help of two volunteers, Jason Barenchik and Bill
Cooper. They spent their time relining and baiting poles and unhooking
MANY fish.
Other activities that
filled our afternoons included Zumba, McCalmont Township Fire Safety, bowling,
a camp birthday party, horse-back riding, swimming at the Punxsutawney Middle
School pool, a visit from Jay Burkett and his Mud Life monster truck, and
Carnegie Science Center’s Fasten Your Seatbelt program.
This Year marked our 6th Annual Talent Show in which parents came to
spend the afternoon and see the many talents of the campers, counselors, and
kitchen staff. In addition to this, participants enjoyed a day of riding
excitement thanks to the local firemen (Lindsey, Central, and Elk Run) and
J& J Amusements as they welcomed us for a day at the Punxsutawney
Carnival.
Dave Walko made his third
appearance as the rocket man. The campers each made a rocket and we spent
an afternoon shooting them off. Everyone chanted over and over
3-2-1….blast off as each camper launched their own water rocket.
A new addition to this
year’s camp was Chris Maze, a photographer, who donated her time, talents, and
materials taking individual portraits of each participant. The portraits
turned out so beautifully. Thank you Chris!
The final day of camp was
spent participating in the Fourth of July Parade in Punxsy. We took first
place again this year!
Our community is so giving
from donations of time , from groceries (Jefferson
Grocery Co.), to flowers, (Steve’s Greenhouse).
Camp Friendship is
such a success each year because of the amazing businesses and people (kitchen
staff, teachers, nurse, and afternoon activity volunteers) who year after year
help to create a fun, safe environment for participants so when the words Camp
Friendship are mentioned it is a happy memory.
2011 Brookville/Brockway
Camp Friendship By Camp Director Marcie
Plyler
Let me start by saying
that this year’s camp for the Brookville/Brockway/Dubois community was greatly
successful. After last year’s camp, Karen Shriver retired from her position as
camp director, as well as the teachers and lunch ladies. Introduced this year
were all new staff members, including myself, four teachers, and several women
in the kitchen. Although for some of us this was our first time at Camp
Friendship, everything ran very smoothly and we all had a fantastic time.
There were on average 45
campers and 45 counselors every day for the week of camp. The amount of
participation this year greatly excited me, and we hope to have everyone back
next year!
Every day, classes in
physical education, nature, art and music were provided to those who attended
camp by teachers knowledgeable in their field. Some of the activities in these
classes included tye-dying pillow cases, making musical instruments, relay
races and fishing. Aside from classes, there was also an hour long
activity that took place each afternoon. The recap of activities are as
follows: On Monday, members of the Gold Wing Riders came out to show off their
bikes, talk to the kids about riding, and even let each child sit on their bikes.
On Tuesday, Dustin Jewell , a Zumba exercise instructor spent the afternoon
showing the campers what a basic form of Zumba looked like and had everyone up
dancing to different styles of music.
Midway through the week we
had a Camp Birthday Party (my favorite day of camp), which consisted of
face painting, a miniature horse, sand digging for prizes, water balloons,
animal balloons, bubbles, parachute games, and even cup cakes to decorate.
On Thursday we traveled to Farmer’s Inn in Sigel for a fun-filled day provided
by the owner, Kim Lucas. Kim allowed us to spend the day seeing the
animals in the petting zoo, playing miniature golf, panning for gold, as well
as playground fun and serving a delicious lunch to everyone.
Lastly, we ended the week
with a talent show for friends and family to attend. Campers performed
their special talents in singing, dancing, ball bouncing, etc. Also, this
year we decided to try something new by extending camp for an extra day, making
a trip to the Punxsutawney Carnival to meet up with Punxy’s campers. On this
day the fire department provided us with a fun day of carnival rides and lunch,
which turned out very nicely.
We were all very blessed to
have such a wonderful turnout and such wonderful weather for the week of camp.
I greatly appreciated all the help received from those who donated their time
and money to make Camp Friendship such a success. I want to especially thank
Stacy Hanzely and the Punxsy Directors, Ranee Sikora and April Barrick, who
were tremendously helpful with the planning and preparation of my first year.
2011 Camp Friendship, the August Camp for children on the Autism
Spectrum By Camp Director Dan Minns
Our camp ran from Monday, August 8, through
Friday, August 12, 2011. This year, twenty-eight children participated in
the August Camp. A typical day at camp consisted of the following:
Immediately after arrival, the campers were
given a morning snack that was soon followed by morning circle time where the
director explained the daily schedule to the campers and "Rise and
Shine" was sung by all. Campers were grouped into four groups mostly
according to age levels. Each group consisted of six to nine campers, two
to three junior counselors, various agency workers, and two hired
aides. After everyone was grouped
appropriately, the campers rotated
through four centers. The centers were art, gym, story/activity, and
music. For consistency purposes, groups and center rotations were established
prior to the first day of camp and remained the same every day.
In art, campers made movable red lobsters,
craft stick picture frames, tie-dyed patriotic flags, and braided friendship
bracelets. During gym, campers participated in kickball, water ball relay
races, water balloon toss, and a scavenger hunt for small prizes such as noise
makers, plastic reptiles, or pirate goodies. After being read various
short stories, campers made paper plate shark hats, tie-dyed coffee filter
jellyfish, iced/decorated dinosaur sugar cookies eggs, and iced/decorated
cupcakes. For music, campers and staff sung, danced, and played various
musical instruments to favorite camp songs such as "Pizza Hut,"
"The Cool Bear Hunt," "Tooty Ta," "Tony
Chestnut," and "Ta Ra Ra Boom de Ay."
After center rotations, everyone took a
half-hour walk. Upon returning to camp, each camper washed his/her hands
and was served lunch. After lunch, campers cleaned up after themselves,
played on the playground, and got ready for the daily activity. Daily
activities consisted of the following:
Monday-went fishing in the pond at Camp
Friendship. Tuesday- McCalmont Fire
Department visited and to the campers about fire safety then allowed the
campers to try on fireman equipment and explore the firetruck.
Wednesday- swimming at the Reynoldsville
pool. Thursday- Sykesville Ag and Youth
Fair. The campers walked through stables/tents and saw various farm
animals then the campers were then allowed to ride select rides such as the
carousel, the super slide, the fun house, and the motorcycles. Friday-
The Farmers Inn allowed Camp Friendship to participate in all of their activities. Lunch was also
provided.
Overall, Camp Friendship, the August Camp,
was a true success. The campers, first
and foremost, left with great memories and a smile on their face each day. Additionally, the staff felt proud to have
had the opportunity to work with the campers and cannot wait to help again next
year!
