HOLIDAY GREETINGS!
Dear Campers, Parents & Friends,
Even though it’s a fairly warm day here at camp, true winter has been with us for a while. Leaves have been gathered, hydrangea’s have been trimmed and many projects have been started in preparation for the coming summer. We here at camp hope that you and your family are doing well during this festive and special time of year. We’ve been fortunate to connect with many of our campers and families on our camp promotion trips up until Thanksgiving. Those will resume again as the new year begins so look for us in a city or area near you. We’ll be showing our new video, which premiered in the fall. Just this past week we went live with the video on the camp website. If you haven’t had time to check it out, do so. You might see someone you know. There are also other videos from the summer if you click on the “You Rock” video at the bottom right side of the page. Once it plays you find a few more scenes from our super 2011 summer.
Staffing is going very well and at this point we have over 85 of our outstanding staff from last summer who have committed for the summer of 2012. We’ve been interviewing some new folks who will round out the excellent staff ranks for the summer. If you know of a wonderful young man or woman who is keen on working with children please send them our way. You can never have too many good staff.
As many of you know one of Gwynn Valley’s values is simplicity. With all the hustle and bustle of this time of year, don’t forget to stop and give thanks for all that we have, for family, for friends, for faith, for good health and for places like Gwynn Valley. Anne and recently placed a metal sign above our doorway in the kitchen leading into our family room that is just the word “Believe”. There are all kinds of magnetic additions you can add to it depending on the season. It’s inspirational for our family in so many ways. Just remember to start that “Believing” process by believing in yourself. I think that Gwynn Valley provides children the simple act of believing in themselves and going forward to gain other life building skills that camp teaches.
At every camp closing our staff sings the song “The Irish Blessing”. It’s a great way to end our sessions and I think the words speak for themselves.
May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be ever at your back.
May the sunshine warm upon your face,
And the rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again.
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.
May the peace of the season touch your lives in simple ways!