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by Peter Surgenor
Why do I need a new toolbox? Don't I have enough
different tasks to do at my camp, in my section?
Don’t I have enough tools to use when I
share the value of the camp experience with my
community? We all have way too much to do each
day, but we also have a responsibility to share
the great benefits of our camps and all camps
with a much larger segment of our communities.
The American Camp Association® (ACA) has
adopted an exciting 20/20 Vision. We know that
camp experiences are key contributors to the
growth of individuals. As an association, we
have accepted a challenge to contribute to the
lives of twenty million children annually by
the year 2020. Why is this a challenge? Today
there are fifty million children of camp age.
Ten million of those are attending camp each
year. Only three million of those campers are
attending camps associated with ACA. In addition,
we have challenged ourselves to increase to twenty
million the number of children and youth who
experience the joys of attending camp and to
increase the number of participants in ACA to
twenty thousand by the year 2020.
As camp folks,
our initial urge is to get it done right now.
20/20 is a challenge — not just an easy
incremental step. So relax. This change we have
accepted will require us to change our thinking,
to change our relationships, and to increase
our ability to share the key point of the camp
contribution to human development. We will need
to find new partners, new audiences, and new
messages to include new participants. We will
need to learn how to share our skills with others
who are interested in joining with us in making
a larger contribution to human development and
to the strengthening of our communities.
Watch
this column each issue for new concepts and innovative
tools to help all of us adapt and change — and
to embrace this extraordinary vision. 20/20 Vision
= 20 million campers and 20,000 participants
in ACA by the year 2020!
Originally published
in the 2008 September/October issue of Camping Magazine.
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