I'm still thinking about the camp that I was at last week; 108 teenagers and about 108 degree temps. Having been a part of a few summer camps, I'll take the heat over rainy or stormy days every time. Most camps today have plenty of air conditioned buildings (not like the old days when I went to camp!) and there is always the pool or a lake to cool off in. But some of the things that this particular group of teens did really impressed me.
Some of them gave up their afternoon free time to go to local nursing homes to visit with the residents. One young boy actually told me that he was looking forward to it. His grandfather had passed away in a nursing home and his grandmother was now a resident in a home and he knew how much the visits would mean to the residents.
Other kids gave up some of their pool time to work around the grounds and give something back to the camp. Some stained decking, others broke down old beds and moved in new ones. Some built benches. Did I mention that it was over 100 degrees?
It's pretty easy to jump on the bandwagon that proclaims the next generation as a generation of takers or as having entitlement attitudes. But you couldn't do that around this group of young people. And they even seemed to genuinely enjoy themselves!
Great job, kids!
John <><
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