There’s always something to celebrate at Skylemar. It could be that “the Wed Sox beat the Wockies”, as reported by an adorable voice on The Morning Show that’s blasted over the PA system. Or maybe that it’s Laundry Day, or it’s chicken tenders for lunch or that a friend got up for the first time skiing.
The best celebration comes if you’re lucky enough to have a birthday boy in your bunk.
It begins with Morning Announcements, when Drama Director Suzie shouts out, “Hey Camp Skylemar. Today’s a very special day because it’s _____’s birthday. Let’s all wish him a happy birthday… (and then the camp responds with) ALL DAY LONG! A rockin’ birthday song plays, we all cheer and the birthday boy takes a lap through the Pavilion for a round of high-fives.
Lunch is a “Private Party” in the Garden Cabin – bunk members only. Pizza, treats and goodie bags. At dinner the whole camp sings the traditional birthday song and there’s cupcakes for the bunk. It’s sweet to have a friend born June 29 through August 10.
Today we also celebrated doing the right thing. Remember the money bags we sent in the winter? They were to hold the coins collected for the charity “World of Change”. The director of this non-profit, which collects loose change to fund programs for impoverished children, came to see us today.
WOC’s Director Matt told us that when you add it all together, there’s at least 10 billion dollars of spare change that’s not being used. People throw away approximately 62 million per year! One out of every five kids doesn’t have enough to eat, but just one jar filled with coins amounting to $70 represents 280 meals in a food pantry. For the price of a video game, 93 children can have breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Matt brought his special truck, that’s set up sort of like an old fashioned toll booth. Each camper got to pour in change, and could designate it either for food, housing or beds for those in need. The kids were incredibly generous. In fact, camper Tim C. donated $248. That’s 1,000 meals!
We’ll collect the change leftover from cash given out on trips and donate that to WOC. Counselors have already donated $65 in change from the staff soda machine. We don’t charge them for the sodas, but instead ask that they donate $1 to WOC each time they take one. Although we don’t know our total donation yet, if you consider the leftover Sea Dogs cash, it should be quite substantial.
Speaking of Sea Dogs, the entire camp loaded up seven buses this afternoon and headed to Portland to watch the Sea Dogs play the NH Fisher Cats. Camper Ethan V (Bunk 15) won the lottery and was selected to throw out the first pitch. His many fans in the stadium cheered wildly as he threw a perfect strike.
It was a sensational game, and the fireworks afterwards were spectacular. In fact, the game itself had its own share of fireworks (including a couple of ejections) as the Sea Dogs came back with a late-inning grand slam to win 8-5!
