Below is the text of a letter that every parent of every camper received this week - sent by our CEO, Jerry Huncosky. And here's a scan of the letter on letterhead. Please, please read it - and I predict that you will have new reason to be proud of Frost Valley.Although times are tough for Frost Valley itself, we have done the only thing you'd imagine us to do. We've followed our principles, and we've now told the parents of our campers that they should not let the recession keep their sons and daughters from enrolling in camp this summer. We've asked them to call and we'll work out some kind of financial aid if necessary. The response so far as been tremendous - and you can imagine some of the stories, told through tears, that Jerry has already heard.
But if you haven't lost your job, and if you aren't as affected by the economic downturn as others around you, now is the time for you to make a donation of $10, $100, or perhaps one that will fund a camper's stay for a two-week session ($1500). If you can, as it were, spare a dime, go here and make an online donation now.
Now here, as I say, is the text of that good letter.
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Dear Camper Parent:
We at Frost Valley are feeling the strain of the bad economy in many ways, and we know that many of you are having the same experience. We are, however, happy to report that our enrollments are very good and that attendance at all our programs—weekend family groups, retreats, and school groups etc.—remains strong. As our camp enrollments continue to come in for the summer of ‘09, we find our enrollment ahead of last summer and are pleased that many of our sessions are filling up.
Nonetheless, we are not seeing some familiar names on our registration lists for camp. We hear at second and third hand about some of our Frost Valley families who have not yet registered their children, and so—making no assumptions about individuals as a matter of principle—I thought it best to write this letter to all our camp families.
We appreciate, indeed cherish, the faith you have placed in us over the years by trusting your sons and daughters to us for weeks at a time. We also recognize that this could be the year when you need us to reach out to you. There’s one thing we know for certain about this recession, and perhaps it’s the only thing we surely know: your children—our campers—share no fault in the making of hard economic times. We all agree that they should be as unaffected as possible. For that reason, I want to reach out to all of our families and ask that they not let any financial difficulty prevent them from having a great summer at Frost Valley. If your child attended camp in prior years but the bad economy might keep them from coming back in ’09, I encourage you to call our summer camp staff or me personally and let us help you get your child enrolled. I and our staff and our Board of Trustees all believe that the strength of our program lies in the continuity of experience—summer to summer, even decade to decade—enjoyed by our campers and staff. Camp is one of life’s rare continuities. Your child is part of our camp family and we want him or her to come back here again.
Conversely, if you have not been affected by the recession, we are asking for your help now. Won’t you please support a camper whose family is struggling? If you are able to send a few dollars, or if you have the means to support an entire camper fee, now is exactly the time to help. This is a year for us to come together, the way strong communities do at such times, to pitch in and help each other.
Again, please don’t let the recession stop you from enrolling your child in camp today. Let us help you do so, before their favorite sessions fill up.
You can reach us at 845-985-2291. My personal extension is x220 and I enjoy hearing from parents of our campers in any case. Let me help you figure out how to make a Frost Valley summer possible for your sons and daughters.
Here’s to sunnier and warmer weather soon!
Jerry Huncosky
CEO
