Announcing Camp Community Day 2001 - Brief Article

ACA has a vehicle to tell the public that camps help enrich lives and change the world -- it's called Camp Community Day! The third annual event takes place this summer during the week of July 16 (select any day during this week or another day outside this calendar week if it better suits your camp calendar or the schedule of your dignitaries). This summer, camps across the country are being encouraged to invite their members of Congress to visit their camp so that these elected officials can witness firsthand that camp provides essential elements critical to a child's total education.

Visits to camps by the country's leaders will help bring the message home to parents that the camp community provides caring adults who offer experiential education opportunities that promote discovery, exploration, and active participation. Congressmen at your camp will take home the story that the camp experience coaches young children in the values of shared responsibility and strong stewardship and they will understand that camp is a place where children practice growing up by taking healthy risks.

Tool Kit Will Help You Prepare

How can you join this grassroots campaign? ACA has prepared a Congressional Tool Kit, a step-by-step guide to inviting your elected officials and the media to visit your camp this summer. The resource packet includes how to invite your House member and two Senators, tips for an itinerary, how to maximize media coverage, guidelines on how to be interviewed by the press, a sample media call script, and a sample invitation and press release. The kits were distributed to camps at the ACA National Conference in Orlando and will be mailed to camps that were unable to attend. Activity ideas for this event also will be mailed to you.

ACA Executive Director Peg Smith underscores, "As a camp professional, your unique talents, creativity and commitment contribute to the lives of every child and adult who participates in your camp. Imagine the ripple effect you create when you unite your gifts and talents with the more than 6,000 members of the ACA community!" This event will give credibility to the camp experience.

Camp's efforts will be carried to Washington, D.C., by the ACA Public Policy Committee. The impressions and images recorded this summer will help create a brand identity that the camp experience is a viable contributor to the development of children and youth. "Your voice will be heard by those who make decisions affecting the lives of our campers and our camps!" Peg exclaims.

Celebrate the Power of Community

Here is a visible opportunity to illustrate to elected officials, as well as to parents, traditional educators, and the media, that camp is a place where children learn to lead! It's where the "other learning" takes place, and it happens in the camp environment because of the power of community!