At the ACA National Conference in Atlanta in 2016, 4-H camp directors from across the country spent a day exploring relevant topics. Nationally, 4-H is one branch of the Extension Services, which includes Master Gardeners and other program areas that rely on volunteers. One common and highly charged topic was how to handle volunteer camp staff  who act like they are tenured for life. While almost every camp relies on experienced volunteers, sometimes they need to be reminded that Camp 2017 is not the same as when they were in fourth grade.

Camp Hometown Heroes is a national, free, week-long residential summer camp for children and siblings ages seven to 17 of fallen U.S. service members. These are active or inactive military heroes who died in combat or as the result of accident, ill-ness, or suicide. Camp Hometown Heroes provides a safe and caring environment where the children attending have the opportunity to openly discuss their feelings and experiences in connection with losing their loved ones.

Standing on a dark platform at Grand Central Station in June 1965, I saw a huge pile of black trunks with silver latch hooks and little locks just like mine. I had watched my mother pack my trunk with blue wool blankets, white sheets, shorts, pants, shirts, underwear, a few bathing suits, and a pink bathing cap with a strap. The trunks that all looked alike were ready to be loaded on the train. Girls were laughing and hugging each other in pressed blue shorts and crisp, buttoned-down, white shirts that were measured especially for each one of them at Saks Fifth Avenue.

Each year, ACA’s Eleanor P. Eells Award for Program Excellence recognizes camps that embody the award’s namesake by developing superior programming that effectively and creatively responds to the needs of people and society through the camp experience. We commend the 2017 winners. They are all testaments to the power of camp programs that actively seek to realize the potential of the camper populations they serve by better equipping them to take on the world’s challenges with resiliency and belief in themselves.

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If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at will change.
— Wayne Dyer