What a week!! I got to Schoharie, NY last Sunday night in time for our volunteer orientation/meeting. We had between 80-100 volunteers ranging from high school students to adults on any given day. They were counselors, people helping with arts, nature, and recreation, and people helping with sign-in and snack. All these people made this crazy week possible for the 117 kids ranging from first through eighth grade. I love this week of camp!! It sounds ridiculous and that is because it is! There are a lot of kids, and only a few of us "running" the show but those people in charge are good people and know what they are doing. This week was a much more positive experience for me compared to my day camp week a month ago and it renewed my spirit in so many ways.
Now for a little background on the area and my connections to it, before telling you some fun stories of the week. I have spent a week in Schoharie helping with this community day camp through Camp Fowler each summer from 2007-2010. They were some of the craziest but best weeks of my summers. I spent them leading art projects and playing silly games and running between churches with an average of 100-130 kids. The people there are the most hospitable and kind people I have ever met. I am always greeted with hugs (even when first meeting them), and no matter what year it is I am welcomed back with kindness.
Last August the Schoharie Valley was hit very hard when Hurricane Irene ran rampant through the country. The whole area was severely flooded. Homes, churches, businesses, and lives were destroyed. The water level throughout main street was a couple feet high and can be seen on the sides of buildings in town even now. My heart broke as I found out that people I knew lost their houses to the flood. They were taken in by friends and cared for, but nothing can compare to being in the home that you've made for your family.
As I went back to town this week I wasn't sure what to expect. I had only been back once, and I hadn't gone through the village much. I knew that some of the houses and churches were being rebuilt, and that some had just been put up for sale, or left alone. One of the activities during the week was the service project where each camper took a pinwheel that they made along with a letter they wrote and we walked throughout the village and planted them along the yards of town. We saw the vast stages of repair that was still occurring. Some houses hadn't been touched and were still caked in mud. We past a few that were being worked on and we could see the pride people had in their homes. And a few were completed and you could see that people were back to living in them. It was a very difficult experience for some of the campers I was with. I was with some of the youngest kids, in second and third grade, and as they were talking they described how they had been effected by the flood. A few were telling me and another staff member what animal they could be if they could turn into anything, a turtle (because they can be on land and water, in case of another flood), and a fish (because they are such good swimmers). It amazed me how these little kids coped with such a brutal and tragic event. Many of them were still trying to figure out how cope with what happened almost a year ago. It was hard for me even as an adult, not having been there or lost anything, just having friends there. I can't imagine what they were feeling.
This week was a blast!! I came back this year to help, not attached to Camp Fowler, but as assistant head counselor, which meant that I was a glorified floater! It was kind of a great job. I was able to help the Fowler staff out with music and playing games with kids because I knew how the camp worked and I knew the types of things that needed to get done. I was also able to help with the little stuff like filling up water jugs and emptying the garbage. It was a nice balance. I wasn't in charge of anything specifically but there were still people looking at me as if I knew what I was doing which was kind of amazing to me. I re-learned how to listen to others and be a shoulder to bear burdens when people needed to vent. What made the week great for me was how many different roles I played. I sang songs, played silly games (yay Gold Rush and Who Moosenapped Bullwinkle?), and listened. More importantly I joined a real community. I haven't felt that included in quite a while, even within my own circle of friends. For one week, over 80 high school and college students, and adults joined together to create the best week possible for these kids. It happened! Despite the days that were insanely hot and humid, and the long hours, and all the other little things that might not have gone as planned, we all joined together and made a great week happen. If you have facebook about would like to see some clips of what we did, look up Schoharie Reformed Church. There you can find a clip of the parade from the service project, a skit from one of the worship services that the pastors did for the kids to explain the theme for the day, and then two of the songs that we sang.
I feel rejuvenated, I haven't felt this excited about and connected to my beliefs in a very long time. It is just a great feeling, especially going into such a drastic transition in my life. I feel slightly more at ease about what is to come, which doesn't make much sense logically.
This coming week is going to be difficult and draining. I've got to pack up my life and say goodbye to a good number of friends. My to do list keeps growing with things I need to get done before I leave for my new job, to get my new apartment ready, to pack up my things here, of people to see and say goodbye to, and just other life activities. It is a little stressful and as much as I am trying not to feel overwhelmed I drive away from here on the 28th and have to be ready to go by then.
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