Camp Echo Weekly E-Newsletter May 19, 2002 The Camp Echo E-List is now at 428 members. Spread the word! ***** Flash! ------ There are still cabins available for this weekend's Memorial Day Family Camp. Call the Program & Membership Services Office at the McGaw YMCA to register: 847-475-7400. If you have any other questions call or email Katie Tucker Trippi at 847-328-4758 or . Alumni Opportunities -------------------- Adult volunteers are needed at the Evanston bus departures on June 16, 23, and 30; July 14 and 28; and August 11. The job involves greeting parents and campers and handing out bus passes from 7:45 to 8:45 am. Please email Anne Connelly if you can help. Consider coming back to Camp Echo as a staff member for First Timers Camp August 11-15. Take 5 days off from your "real" job and help ensure a safe and fun experience for first time campers. This is a time when many of our regular staff members leave for college and we really need your help! Email Rob Grierson for an application. Staffing Update: Signed, Sealed, and Delivered Since last week's newsletter, the following had signed their letters of agreement and became official Camp Echo staff members for summer 2002: Nurse: Mary Kleschen (C1) Assistant Wrangler: Meghan Gordon Dining Room Steward: Sarasvati "Swami" Miller SCs: Mark Bonges (E) ACs: Carri Katonah (D) If you have not seen your name listed in recent weeks, but you think you are signed, I apologize; email me and I'll check my records. Rides to Staff Training ----------------------- A number of staff members have asked about rides to Camp for the June 7 or 9 start of Main Camp Staff Training. Staff Training starts at 2:00 on Sunday June 9th. CPR and First Aid classes will be offered on Saturday June 8th; participants should arrive the evening of Friday June 7th. Email Rob Grierson and I'll try to connect Health Officers Needed ---------------------- A second health officer (MD, RN, LPN, or EMT) is needed June 16-22, June 30-July 6, July 7-12, and July 21-27. Contact Rob Grierson . Personal Notes Long time Family Camp camper Manown "Bill" Kisor, Sr. passed away this past Thursday after a long illness. Services will be held on Thursday, May 23 at 9:00 a.m. at St. Matthews Episcopal Church at the corner of Lincoln and Hartrey in Evanston. Mr. Kisor is father to Echo legends Manown "Buck" Kisor, Jr; Hank Kisor; and Debbie Kisor Guy. He is grandfather to the next generation of fantastic Echo staff, Colin and Conan Kisor and Josh, Zach, Samantha and Kathleen Guy. His spirit will live forever at Echo. Cards and notes of condolence may be sent to the Kisor family c/o Deb & Bob Guy, 1215 Maple St, Evanston IL, 60202. Alumni Notes (Send in your news!) ------------ Noah Mickey-Colman writes, "Right now I am working with Hull House Association as a Literacy Coordinator doing hands-on literacy activities with children and their families, mostly Spanish-speaking. It is a great job and I love it. I had better, if it means I am staying in Chicago and not going to camp for the summer. I feel like I am doing good things and am learning a lot." Tom Carrier writes, "I read the recent Camp Echo E-News, and it really brought back so many good memories. It made me happy to see that so many people who were involved when I was a camper are still involved today. When I hear the names Geiger, Fischl, Fowler, Kleschen, Donahue, and Grierson I think about Camp Echo. The email really rekindled my 'Echo Spirit' "I was a family camper from 1965-1970, ages 2-7, and then became a boys camper from 1972 or 73 thru about 1977 or 78. I can still remember my first boys camp. I went with Bill Weis (Jim's brother), we bunked up in McCallum lodge and our counselor was Paul Fischl. He used to play guitar to us during Saska and as we fell asleep at night. "I live in Phoenix now, so I am not sure when I will be back to Echo, although I am sure that I will return." Roger Weaver writes, "So glad to be added to this list. I worked as a truck driver the summer after my senior year in college, 1957, and have written a poem about an unforgettable kid from the inner city of Chicago, a tiny little camper tough as nails, and with a big heart. I am blessed with the friendship here of Sue Stroven Seator who with Doug, has moved to Oregon. Here is the poem: The Smallest Jimmy (Camp Echo, 1957) No older than five, he brought the South Side to summer camp while Vietnam waited. He specialized in mice, proudly presenting a shoebox with a mouse, newborn, drowned in milk in each corner. "I'm feeding them," he beamed. Streetwise, he followed the camp director's daughter fleeing mouse in my pocket. Don't you want to feel it?" Last morning and we gather campers to return to streets where even mice don't play. His "What are you running from?" catches me by surprise. Later he slips his hand inside my wallet pocket, leaves it there until I grab his wrist and turn, face his flashing eyes and grin, hear his echoing "Don't forget me!" -- Roger Weaver, Corvallis, Oregon" This Week at Camp ----------------- With no school groups in camp this week, the focus was on maintenance projects. Rob Johnston led a small but dedicated crew in clearing and fencing in the front yard at the Directors House; the crew also completed the third retaining wall on the slope to the lake in back of the Directors House. The other project of note was the clearing of debris from the horse pasture. Meanwhile, back in Evanston, a number of Echo staff members were taking Lifeguard classes at the Y, taught by McGaw YMCA Aquatic Director Melissa Mitchell and Echo staff member Josh Newman. On Saturday, Katie Trippi taught a CPR class for about a dozen Echo staff; on Sunday, she joined James Kinney and Peter Frankel for the second of two JC Training sessions held at the YMCA in Evanston. This has been one of the coldest Mays on record in Michigan. It's been close to freezing at night, and Saturday night Grayling Michigan (80 miles northeast) had the lowest recorded temperature in the nation (19 degrees). A change in the direction of the Jet Stream promises to bring us warm and sunny weather for Memorial Day Weekend. Song of the Week ---------------- I WANT TO LINGER Hmm, Hmm, I want to linger here Hmm, Hmm, a little longer here, Hmm, Hmm, a little longer here with you. Hmm, Hmm, it's such a perfect night, Hmm, Hmm, it doesn't seem quite right Hmm, Hmm, that it's my very last with you. Hmm, Hmm, and come September dear; Hmm, Hmm, we'll all remember dear, Hmm, Hmm, the perfect times we've had with you. Hmm, Hmm, and as the years go by, Hmm, Hmm, we'll think of you and sigh, Hmm, Hmm, it's not good-bye but just goodnight. Letters to the Editor --------------------- Dear Editor, [Re: May 12] Little did we know during the 1977 Outpost canoe trip, the Sally Donohue who stood on a picnic table and screamed, "I HATE CANOE TRIPS", would be the same person who would write some 11 years later, how much Outpost positively influenced her life. Signed, One lucky Echo counselor because of her association with campers like Sally, Mary Fischl Wise > Echo History Tidbit of the Week ------------------------------- Camp Director Rob Grierson and wife Louie had dinner at the home of former Camp Director Neil Featherstone and wife Karen on Monday. There were many wonderful stories and delightful pictures from the 50s and 60s, including a photograph of Ben Snyder, after whom Ben Snyder Lodge is named. We were reminded that the camp lake, Ryerson Long Lake, was part of a great chain of lakes used by logging companies located throughout Newaygo County in the late 19th century. The felled trees were marked with the different company's emblems on the ends and sent down through the chain of lakes to the sawmill; credit could be given to the proper logging company based on the log markings. Feel The Spirit! -- Rob Grierson Camp Echo Director rg@mcgawymca.org