October_2015_Newsletter_Pages (1)

5 • OZARKS REGIONAL YMCA • FALL 2015
After we arrived home Saturday, Cass retreated
to her room and spent the entire
weekend in quiet reflection. I thought she
was tired or cranky so I took her to get ice
cream and encouraged her to speak with me
about what is going on and what is wrong.
Turns out, nothing is wrong. Camp impacted
her on such a deep and spiritual level that
she is really focusing on her priorities, perspectives,
and organizing her thought processes
and values. Cass has always been an
emotionally deep child, and a very good child
to boot, but this has changed her. This experience,
the beauty of all you and your counselors
do; was shining through my little girl.
She felt free, loved, liked for who she truly
is. She loved that no one was bullied or rude
or put-down. She loved that she could be
herself and no one told her to calm down or
chill out. She appreciated no one picking on
her for being short. She expressed how her
friends and school mates are so caught up
in name brands and who has the newest or
largest cell phone and how competitive they
are and how much drama goes on. She wishes
her entire school could go to camp so that
they could see and learn what she now sees
and knows-that there is so much more to
life. That childhood is fleeting and adulthood
lasts so much longer. That being a kid really
is okay and there is no hurry to grow up.
That the newest and greatest phone means
nothing, and those dollars spent on that
could go towards a charity. That you should
never put anyone down or chastise them for
being themselves. These are all things she expressed
to me. She made great friends in her
cabin and felt like she was truly herself and
that she was liked for the real person she is at
heart. She is now reflecting on her friends and
relationships and changes that she wants or
needs to make. She feels stronger as a person
and able to advocate not just for herself, but
for others. She feels strong in her ability to be
a leader and to not let it upset her so much
when people do not agree with her. She loved
communing with nature and wasn’t afraid of
any of it and expressed that she feels she
spends too much time on the phone or watching
TV and she wants to get out more and
hike and walk and fish. She knows now that
she can draw healthier boundaries and not
stay up to the wee hours of the morning listening
and advising her friends on their latest
drama-that it really is okay to shut the phone
off and get some rest (we’ve been working on
boundaries the past several months)-but now
attending camp has given her that inner grit
and strength that I, as her mom, could not do.
She said she didn’t even miss her phone once
the whole time she was at camp. That is a
feat in and of itself!
I’ve carried on and my words do not begin to
do justice to all that Cassady shared and how
camp has impacted her. Thank you, again”.
What a beautiful email and one that speaks
so well to what I was alluding to earlier—that
lessons we learned at camp when we were
children still resonate with kids today: to accept
others as they are, to pitch in and do
your part, to work as a team, that it is perfectly
acceptable to act a little bit silly sometimes,
to take time for daily reflection, to
laugh often, and that it’s not material things
that make you beautiful but rather the joy
from being who you are…just to name a few.
As I read this mother’s email, I couldn’t help
but think how Camp Wakonda had made
Cassady come alive and discover a passion
within herself that she didn’t know existed
before. It brought to mind a quote by Howard
Thurman – “Don’t ask yourself what the
world needs. Ask yourself what makes you
come alive and then go do that. Because
what the world needs is people who have
come alive.”
Sounds like great advice. I wonder if Howard
Thurman went to camp?
YOU CAN HELP KIDS
LIKE CASSADY
REAP THE BENEFITS OF A
CAMP WAKONDA
EXPERIENCE BY MAKING A
DONATION TO THE OZARKS
REGIONAL YMCA.
Please send your check
or money order to:
Ozarks Regional YMCA,
417 S. Jefferson,
Springfield, MO 65806
or visit our website
www.orymca.org
and select “give” under the
“social responsibility” tab