STEP steps up (videos)

Olivia Fraioli went through her videos from the summer of '12 and found three she wanted to share. She was involved with STEP village. These are young adults with various disabilities who have fun, learn about how camp works and help out by doing various jobs and tasks. It's the dream of most campers in Mac village that they will someday join STEP. Here's Olivia:

This summer while working in step we had the privilege of getting to participate in Mike and Stuart's LAST gumbo olympics of 2012. it was actually a funny story -- we weren't sure if we were going to be able to even do them at all! we only had 7 campers in step, which isn't enough to do them with, and were supposed to have done them with windsong, but we had a bit of a scheduling mishap and ended up scheduling the olympics for different days. the other group i had asked to participate with us ended up backing out the period before we were going...so i was extremely nervous! i knew that a bunch of windsong girls this particular session were PHENOMENAL mainstreamers, and truly just loved hanging out with the campers in the mac program. our olympics was scheduled during hird waterfront, so i found them before it and nervously asked if they wanted to participate. i wasn't sure if they were going to say yes, because most of them didn't swim and just hung out which i thought they loved. it turned out they couldn't have been happier or more HONORED to have been asked to hang out with us! even though they had just done the gumbo olympics the day before, they were SO excited.

Mike McNamee and Stuart Duff got to know my campers very well from living in lakeview with us...but it truly went beyond that. they came to our devotions, hung out with us whenever they could...and really just put in true time and effort to get to know our village, which a lot of people don't necessarily do. i feel as though step sometimes gets overlooked at camp, since our guys are much older than most campers at Frost Valley. Nevertheless, mike and stuart completely disregarded those stereotypes and truly became a part of our village. over the course of the session my kids really grew fond of them, so needless to say i was EXTREMELY nervous to possibly have to cancel the olympics on them- something they were looking forward to all week. It was also the very last activity scheduled, and I had cancelled the activity right before it so they could finish packing their belongings.

We (STEP, the PHENOMENAL Windsong ladies, and Mike and Stewart) all met up in front of Margetts for what turned out to be the absolute best activity period of the entire session, and maybe the entire summer in STEP. My campers that didn't typically like to participate were screaming at the top of their lungs, and smiles were just plastered on everyone's face for an hour and a half. This period truly embodied the Frost Valley spirit, and the mission of not only camp, but also the goal of the MAC partnership. I had never been prouder or more excited about any activity I've ever taken part in as a counselor.

I took videos of each groups final performances.

hiring a full-time media person

Frost Valley is now hiring a full-time multi-media coordinator. Here is the job description: link.

memorial for Halbe Brown

A memorial event is being planned for Sunday, October 14. It will be held at Frost Valley. I personally hope that many, many, many of us can attend as an expression of our deep love and respect for Halbe, and Jane - and the Brown family. The service is likely to begin at either 11 am or 1 pm. The location at camp (Ketcham Chapel? Geyer Hall? outdoor Wawayanda Chapel?) will depend on weather and on the number of people attending. It happens to be a weekend when there are many lodges and cabins available. Everyone is welcome to come back to Frost Valley for the whole weekend, or, of course, just for Saturday night and the Sunday event. If you are relatively nearby, you can, of course, come up just for Sunday. The cost will be $25 per person per night (including lodging and food), and this cost is simply to help defray food and housekeeping expenses. We expect a lot of people to be back at the Valley for this occasion, so please know that all lodging will be shared. It would help the folks at Frost Valley if you organized your group - if indeed you are part of a group - prior to calling to register. Please call the registrar office at 845-985-2291 extension 450 when you are ready to register. But please do not call before Monday. Even if you are coming for Sunday daytime only, please let FV know by calling the registrar so we can have enough chairs, parking, and lunch. I hope to see EVERYONE back at Frost Valley on October 14 so we can appropriately honor and memorialize our generous, visionary friend and mentor.