Friday Nite Flix Archives

Posted on July 26, 2013 by camptowanda

Friday Night Sermon: Erica Gulliver

This is “Erica Media”‘s 7th summer at Camp Towanda. While she is usually behind the camera, producing Friday Nite Flix or managing her amazing team…a couple of weeks ago, Erica gave a beautiful sermon at Friday Night Services (proceeding another amazing Friday Nite Flix of course!). Enjoy:

My experience at Camp Towanda has not been the typical experience. I may not have grown up at camp in the traditional sense, but I have, in fact, grown up at camp. This summer marks my 7^th year as a member of the Camp Towanda family. It seems appropriate that 7 is a lucky number and this is, of course the lucky summer of 2013. Luck, or fate, definitely played a small part in my arrival at camp. In the winter of 2006, as I was trying to dwindle down my summer employment options, it came down to two camps; Camp Towanda, and another camp. Although I didn’t know it at the time, I did perhaps the single most important thing I’ve ever done; I flipped a coin, and it came up Towanda. Even during my first summer, I knew I had discovered something very important, and something special. It didn’t take long before Mitch started talking to me about what we would do the next year, and the year after that, and of course, the year after that. Camp is a part of my life. It’s a huge part of my life. During the past 7 years I have lived in 6 different apartments in 3 different countries and the only place I have known that I would truly feel home was Camp Towanda. Camp is so much my home in fact that my mail gets delivered here, all year round. Often at camp you hear people talking about the real world, or returning to real life, but for the lucky few of us, Camp is real life. We still live 10 months for two but instead of boarding the buses in August and figuratively carrying camp with us, we literally hold on to camp throughout the winter preparing for the day when the campers will once again wash upon the shores of Towanda.

At the end of each week, and each summer, I am entrusted to produce Friday Nite Flix and with each episode I try to produce the best FNF I can and present it as my gift to camp but no matter how good each show is (and I do hope you enjoy them), it doesn’t compare with the gifts camp has bestowed upon me. Camp has provided me with the opportunity to grow, both personally and professionally, to learn and to make mistakes. There is no way to truly express the importance of the friendships I have made here. Towanda is a beautiful camp with amazing facilities, but it is the people I have met here who have truly had a lasting impact on me. Through good times and bad, both at camp, at home and around the world, there is no one you can count on like someone from Camp Towanda. Every person you see around you is a potential life long friend. Friendships are very easily to come by at camp, but you must remember how valuable they really are. Praise your friends when they are doing good and support them when they need it. Tell you’re friends what they mean to you, as I hope I am telling all of you. I just want you all to know, I think you’re awesome.

To Bob and Amy, Lisa and Michael, I thank you for letting me share in your families, and for providing support and wisdom. To Mitch and Stephanie, who I to look to as my summer parents, I must say thank you. Thank you for helping me along the way, celebrating milestones with me, allowing me to stumble but never letting me fall. I hope everyday to make you proud.

There is no greater feeling then knowing you are loved and supported and all of you provide that feeling for me. If happiness could be located using a map, or maybe a gps, it would bring you here, to Camp Towanda.

Posted on July 1, 2013 by camptowanda

Advice for First Time Parents @ Camp Towanda

What an amazing first week at Camp Towanda! It was action-packed and full of new beginnings and memories for our first-time campers. You can really feel the energy here at camp by watching our first episode of Friday Nite Flix https://vimeo.com/69361442. For those of you who don’t know, Friday Nite Flix is a camper AND parent favorite here at Camp Towanda! At the end of each week, our Media Team presents a very spirited recap of the week that was. Our camp watches this together on the big-screen each Friday. Our fans at home get their viewing on Saturday (after it uploads to our Vimeo channel ALL NIGHT). It’s a great way to really feel the energy and excitement we get to experience every day.

We also wanted to share some insight, experience and wisdom from some of our “seasoned” parents to first-time parents with kids at Camp Towanda. Here are some great letters we received and a video: https://vimeo.com/68894398.

Letter#1:
Dear first year parent,
Our daughter’s first year at camp was in 2006, when she started as a Deb. The first two weeks of camp it never stopped raining. It rained so much there was a picture of Mitch in a kayak on the soccer field! Mitch also had to email the parents asking us to send up “dry” sneakers! (That will NOT happen this year!!!!!-Mitch)ALL the letters we received the first 2 WEEKS from our daughter said she “misses us so much she cannot stop crying”. When we heard from the camp after her first week, they said she was “appropriately” homesick. Throughout that first summer there were always letters saying “camp is fun, but I miss you so much I am crying”.

We believed in the camp, and felt if she could just get past missing us, this camp was the right place for her and she would love it.

As the summers went on, the letters became as short as “too busy to write, camp is GREAT, ttyl” !

Our daughter is now in the Dorm and her 8th summer. To say she “lives 10 months for 2” is an understatment.

Camp Towanda is a very special place. You chose well.

Try really hard to relax and enjoy your summer rather than sitting at the computer waiting for new pictures (as I did her first year), your kids are in great hands!!

Letter#2:

Dear Mitch,
While reading your morning email today (which I look forward to every morning during the summer) I felt the need to respond to you regarding the first 3 letters.

This is my children’s second year at camp and I want to share my experience when it was their first year and even this year.

Every morning I look forward to seeing the pictures posted from the night before. I look through all the pictures, save the ones of my kids to the favorites and go back and analyze their faces.All week long i wait for the first letters to arrive,This summer this is the progression of her letters :

1st letter: I am going to give camp a chance, all my friends are here, regular schedule tomorrow GTG bye.

2nd letter: I miss you so much I wish I was home, but most of the time I don’t.

3rd letter: camp is great,!( then a laundry list of colored loom bands needed & where is her camera).

I can go back to the letters from the previous summer and it is much if the same.

Towanda is an amazing place that my kids look forward to all year, but it takes a few days to get adjusted.

I remember when they got off the plane after camp last year and hugged us so much after saying how much they missed us, the exact words out of their mouths before we walked two feet in the airport is ” can I go back next year,”

Homesickness is part of the adjustment, I,know my kids are having an amazing time and they are in unbelievable hands.

Whether you are a first timer or seasoned parent you don’t sleep well with your kids away, but to paraphrase the constant message my kids wrote last summer, “thank you for sending me here” and ” I am having the time of my life”.

Stay dry and see you on visiting day!

Letter #3:

More than 40 years ago I spent my first summer at Camp Towanda, and to this day I can remember being homesick my first week at camp. I also clearly remember being watched over with great care by my counselors, by the head counselor, and even by the then directors of the camp, just as I know that new campers are still watched over today. And I know without hesitation that what was true back then remains true now: it is crucial to allow time for the new camper to find their own way, to choose their own path of independence, and to come to terms with what may surprise them: that they can not only go it on their own in an entirely new environment, but that they can (and will!) come to thrive in that environment.

Having two children in camp now, I know that the first few days (and even weeks, and perhaps even the first summer) can be a time of challenging emotions for the new parent. But the lesson we’ve learned in our family is to have confidence in our children, in our choice to send our children to Towanda for all the reasons we made that choice, and in the recognition that generations of children at Towanda have dealt with and beautifully conquered the pangs of homesickness which are being experienced by many new campers during this first week of camp.

And one other suggestion: please resist, resist, resist the temptation to gauge what is happening with your child at camp by what you see in the daily photos. As I’ve come to learn, and also seen first hand during my visits to camp over the last many years, the photos capture at most a split second of time in what is an always fulfilling and activity filled day at camp, and they simply can’t consistently provide the basis for judging what is really going on with your child at camp. In fact, I have often suggested to Mitch that he experiment with a summer of “old school” at Camp Towanda, where there are no photos broadcast to the parents. I have always sensed that this would be a relief for the kids – some of whom love to run to the camera and some of whom have zero desire to run to the camera – and a bigger relief to the parents, many of whom plainly spend too much time glued to the computer refreshing their screen as they wait for new photos to be posted. Yes, I acknowledge that the photos can be fun. But please consider accepting from someone who has lived, and still lives, with this issue: the photos are not worth the anxiety they can sometimes create.

We hope this helps; please also remember WHY you chose Towanda; WE are parents, too. We empathize with what you are feeling, BUT WE ARE HERE, really taking care of YOUR CHILD. THIS IS an incredible privilege and OPPORTUNITY; when you look back, years from now; you will be proud that you provided this foundation, confidence, nurturing, safe BUILDING experience.

We speak confidently because of the results EVERY YEAR; we look at the BIG picture and we deliver…with love, pride and passion.

And just for some added humor, we thought we’d share this animated perspective on what parents do when they miss their kids and just really wish they were up at camp too! Enjoy (and refresh, refresh, refresh): https://vimeo.com/69413200 .

Posted on August 10, 2012 by camptowanda

So bye bye Miss American Pie

Mitch shares his reflections on the last day of camp and the summer that was, in his emotional last blog of the summer.

And in the end, the love you take is equal to……

One hot day; packing; emotional; items without names; nailing the bunk plaque onto the wall forever; one last american pie; one last flag lowering; final banquet; emotional words; reflections; moments; long lasting thunderstorm; a super Friday Nite Flix inside the field house; rolling thunder; tear jerking songs (Long & Winding Road, You’ve Got a Friend, Time of Your Life, Friends theme, Elton John’s Friends, Our House, Imagine, Leaving on a Jet Plane, Lean on Me, Homeward Bound, In My Life, Circle Game, So Far Away and Landslide—to name a few); burning of the numbers in a surreal setting as the Dorm & Club led camp in a final “Friends, Alma Mater and Taps” as everyone stood arms around shoulders looking through the open amphitheater doors as 2012 burned on the hillside while the rain poured down; followed by one last milk & cookies—and then boys camp bunk time before bedtime while the girls sang some more songs- all to make for a bittersweet end to an incredible summer for our children.

Reveille sounded at 6:15am today. We all have smiles and tears for all so many reasons we accomplished as one big family.

I will share with you some of what I said at last night’s evening line-up:

“I’ve always said that the trouble with camp is that it ends. It ends for the summer and then for some, it ends forever. Although perhaps it means saying goodbye to friends you won’t see for 10 months, if ever again …that might mean that decades later, the memories, the smell, the sounds of camp remain the BEST of what you have known.

From singing American Pie, to last night’s show, to all the activities, fun and friends…….

So, as we prepare to leave our summer home, summer family, Stephanie and I wish you all only the best of health, happiness, prosperity and goodness…..

It has been a great summer…..it has been a pleasure watching each and everyone of you personally, grow, learn and discover things about yourself you did not realize you could do, become an important person in our camp family….

And as we all go our separate ways, don’t forget that everyone here at lineup right now takes a bit of Towanda with them, even if you will never be back here….. thank you, we appreciate all that we have done together this summer of 2012; we will miss you all… call me, maybe!!”

And then during the banquet, towards the end of the evening, I added something like this:

“I consider myself one lucky guy to be in the position that I am in as your Camp Director, I never take it for granted; I try my best and always want everyone to do the same.

I hope that you find something you love and then with some luck, be able to make it your career and then you’ll never feel as if you are working;

Camp Towanda is my home, my life, my family, my business, my passion while at the same time is all of our summer home.

I could not do it without the support of Stephanie and all that she contributes, especially behind the scenes. Keeping me and the senior staff balanced, healthy and clear.

I could not run camp without her and without my 2 winter sons, Brandon and Jared, who realize and also contribute to all that goes into planning and running camp before and after everyone gets here.

To our amazing senior staff, counselors, KMP, office, laundry, drivers…and everyone…we are ALL Towanda!

Thanks again.”

To our camper’s parents, I say thank you for entrusting your chidren to us; we will miss them tremendously; enjoy them for 10 months; after a brief rest, we’ll be ready to get geared up in just 315 days when “I BET camp will be great in LUCKY 2013”!!

Signing off,

Mitch & Stephanie

PS: Did anybody my blog posts this summer?

P.P.S. Towanda Times is hot off the press…get our final summer issue here: https://camptowanda.com/times/Vol90No8.pdf

Posted on July 17, 2012 by camptowanda

S’more Tour and Fun in the Sun!

Excitement; that is what is going on here at camp! So much so I haven’t had a chance to even blog! Actually, it has been sooooo hot and by the time I came into the office, I actually had to lie down! I never thought I would say this, but we wouldn’t mind a day of rain! Can you imagine?

The Water Carnival was a blast; Smorgasbord Dinner was fun; comedy improv night was very entertaining; late Yogurt Nite was yummy; Friday Nite Flix was awesome as always! And our Inters made us proud, doing our Shabbos service at the Honesdale Temple.

Saturday was our Rookie Day S’More Tour with lots of new campers checking us out for next summer. We loved seeing second and third generation kids as well as meeting lots of new faces and their families! Thank you for all of the amazing responses…it really was a terrific day!

Saturday night we had a Square Dancing hoedown; Sunday The Inters went bowling while the rest of camp had an extended indoor rainy day BBQ when we were teased with a thunderstorm that ended up missing us. Regardless, we all danced to the Woodstock rain dance and Santana’s Oye Como Va in the mess hall! We probably had only about 20 minutes of rain, but ended up having an all-camp ETB (early to bed) to catch up on some rest; as the humidity level has been hovering at 97% for a few days. The Seniors-Dorm-Club and LITs ordered in Chinese Food !

Yesterday our activities and intercamp games continued while we ended the day with an all camp Dutch Auction and then surprised everyone with McDonald’s as a special treat on the main soccer field.

So that’s a little of what has been going on here in addition to regular activities, inter camp games and general swims!

Today is Picture Day, Banana Splits, Haircuts and GIRLS SING; a very powerful day! We hope to be giving some exclusive reporting from Girls’ Sing on Twitter @camptowanda…so stay tuned! You never know with our internet connection, but we hope to pull it off.

As you can see, even I’m getting in on the water fun in this heat!

Mitch

P.S. Okay, I take it back. I do not want rain. Especially on Visiting Day!!!!!

Posted on July 2, 2012 by camptowanda

2nd week stride!

Happy Monday everyone! I didn’t intentionally take a weekend off from my daily blog (which is actually a reincarnated version of my nightly email that I send to parents). It’s just that I am so busy at camp that I didn’t have a free second. But let me tell you; all is great here; the 2nd week stride has begun.

We had Watermelon League for the boys, a singing bee for lower camp (that’s like a spelling bee, but you have to finish the words to the song), a Scavenger Hunt, inter-camp games, great activities, good jokes and even taking the time to walk the miniature horse and donkey (you remember donkey otie)! The Club boys also returned yesterday from their overnight canoe trip; a powerful bonding experience for sure.

This weekend we enjoyed breakfast with The Beatles, banana splits with The Archies and of course, Sunday night BBQ with The Grateful Dead…classic vinyl all day long!

Now that a full week has passed, the kids are almost ready for me to start reffing their Ghost games (they must be at level 2 for me to invoke grand master rule 123 point 5, sub-paragraph C…that’s the Tuesday rule of standing on 1-leg; not to be confused with rule number K-9; Casper’s slobber on the ball is part of the game! What a great game, Ghost is!

We had a beautiful Friday evening service lakeside with a spectacular bright red sunset followed by a great episode of Friday Nite Flix (so great that it took over 24 hours to upload via our gerbil powered internet service)! If you haven’t checked it out yet, click here. Or set your e-dials to our Friday Nite Flix Vimeo Channel for weekly installments of our must-see TV. https://vimeo.com/channels/ctfridayniteflix12.

Today is our winter birthday party and Big Brother/Sister ice cream event; Tuesday is the 5 year club trip to the Binghamton Mets; Wednesday is another relaxing porch breakfast (and we celebrate our independence on Thursday for the annual camp Towanda 5^th of July celebration featuring fireworks to Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture and a luau! We also will continue our tradition of breaking a Guinness World Record on Thursday as we create an epic version of everyone singing American pie (a camp favorite and the perfect way to celebrate Independence Day)! More on that later in the week!

Tours have begun as families interested in next summer visit; our campers are singing, cheering and engaging the visitors while the counselors instruct and lead; it is very powerful to watch.

Last night during freeplay I was sitting on the hill above Stephanie’s garden when a group of younger campers (boys and girls) decided to sit next to me and just go on and on about how much they love it here, can’t believe it has been only a week and they feel so lucky. (my keyboard is smiling)!!

Okay, before I go, I wanted to share this wonderful letter we received from parents of a camper that needed to arrive late……

“….I want to tell you how touched to my core I was with how thoughtful and caring the welcome for our daughter was. As I’ve been asked by many since yesterday how the drop-off was and I have had trouble putting the proper words on my feelings without getting choked up. Taking the ENTIRE group away from their activity to make sure she felt comfortable when she arrived was just an incredible touch. Screaming her name with a huge sign to welcome her was magical. She was instantly swarmed by the kids and the counselors. Amazing!! But I guess that is what sets Towanda apart. I want to believe a similar arrival at another camp would be handled so perfectly but I just don’t think it would be so. No way!! Yesterday was Towanda at it’s FINEST. It was pure LOVE! PURE JOY! A moment that I will never forget. You guys just get “IT” !! And “IT” is what made us look at each other when we toured camp in the rain 2 years ago when we first came to visit and it was pouring rain and yet there was still a spirit and a warmth that was tangible that we felt deep down and knew we had found the camp for our family. We were hooked and today I sit here and believe it was one of the best decisions we have made yet as parents. For we could not imagine having a more secure feeling knowing that the TOWANDA FAMILY is now our family as well and we are so lucky to be a part of it. I know our kids are getting the gift of camp, but it is the gift of Towanda that they are really getting. So again thank you from the bottom of our heart for how you handled her late arrival and since I know you will take great care of her I won’t even ask how she is doing!!!. All the best and have a great summer! ..”

On that note…we’ve got a great week planned!!

Let’s jump right in to week 2!

Mitch