Being a Counselor

The first time I went to Camp Deerpark was for a church retreat in the winter of 1969. I attended Fox Street Mennonite Church in the Bronx. I had never been to a camp before. I fell in love with Deerpark when I first laid eyes on it. To me it was a little bit of paradise that was just outside of New York City. No concrete jungle, lots of grass, a pool. Although the buildings were old, they were quaint, and somehow seemed frozen in time.

I was never a camper at Deerpark, but in the summers of 1977 and1978 I was a camp counselor. I was assigned to the main building for the majority of camps the two summers I was a counselor. Most of the rooms were a little musty, but one got used to it. Depending on the size of a particular camp some counselors shared rooms with their campers or with other counselors. Every morning at 7:30 we had a staff meeting to discuss the previous day’s issues as well as what the new day would entail. Mornings consisted of breakfast, arts and crafts, and nature activities. Some afternoon activities included swimming, organized games, drama, water balloon fights and piling in the bus or van to go tubing or canoeing on the Delaware River.

For dinner we either cooked over a campfire or ate in the dining room in the main house. After dinner we would sing songs around the campfire, then head over to the snack shop. Sometimes we had hay rides, or hiked to a campsite to sleep overnight. The last night was always special because we had a banquet and a talent show. Staff and campers would perform at the talent show and the kids loved seeing the staff being silly and making fools of themselves in skits.

The younger children were usually tired by the end of the evening and most went to bed on time, whereas the older age groups were never ready to go to sleep. Since the camp consisted of city children, it was always interesting to see what their definition of camping consisted of. I remember the older children coming with two or three large suitcases, full of clothing. Some even came with boom boxes, and there would always be a kid who would have a whole snack shop’s worth of food in their suitcase.

We took each group of campers on at least one overnight hiking trip. Before embarking we would relay to them that we’d be hiking for quite a distance and they were responsible for carrying whatever they decided to take with them. There was always a camper who wanted to take just about everything in their suitcase and struggled to keep up.

I remember during one camp for 16-year-olds, there was a camper who was not from the city. This particular camper did not come with the other campers on the bus or van; instead, he came in a limousine driven by a chauffeur. I wasn’t sure how he would fit in with the other campers and made it my mission to include him whenever I could. It didn’t take long before the camper was laughing and joking with the other kids

.I believe Camp Deerpark played an important part in campers’ lives. Through kindness and love, staff was able to show God’s love to children who grew up in a harsh city. I will never forget the time I was a camp counselor at Camp Deerpark because that was the first time I was away from home. The decisions I made not only had an impact on me but also on the campers who were in my care. I not only grew as a young adult, but also spiritually. Like my campers who depended on me to guide and take care of them, I in turn had to trust in Christ for strength and comfort, for his steady hand.

On the Mennonite Church USA website, it says, “God calls us to be followers of Jesus Christ and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to grow as communities of grace, joy and peace, so that God’s healing and hope flow through us to the world.” I believe Camp Deerpark is a special place where this mission is worked on and carried through, where children experience God’s love, healing and hope.

Lorna Blake-Weaver, a counselor in the summers of 1977 and 1978, attended Fox Street Mennonite Church, which became Burnside Mennonite Church, both in the Bronx.

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• A Conscious Decision
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