Who am I? Why am I writing this?
Reposted
In the interest of full disclosure, I am the Director of Medomak Camp of Washington, Maine. Medomak used to be a children's summer camp for many years and in the early 90's, a former camper (not me) with four young children found herself in the position to purchase her childhood camp. The idea was to preserve the very valuable and very pretty property from the familiar fate of many summer camps: housing development. But when 250 acres of land also comes with 80 buildings, 3 dining halls and an arsenal of equipment, preservation also becomes about land use. Not only would it have been a shame to let all the buildings fall into disrepair, but it presented an opportunity to keep alive it's traditional use as a summer camp. So the owner reached out to alumni for ideas and the common thread was that they all loved camp and they all had young children. Organically, the idea of camp for the family was born.
A few years into the venture, I was recruited having had a decent amount of experience working at a children's camp while in college. When I first came to Medomak, what was immediately clear was that you could very easily take the summer camp for children model and adapt it to serve the needs of families. I think this observation is very important because to me it defines what a family camp is or what it ought to be.
As you do your search for family camps, keep front and center in your mind that not many people define family camp the same way and thus your search will be somewhat complicated by the terms broad use. The point of this blog is to help you better understand the important differences between the family camp programs, point you in the right direction and help you make a good choice. While I clearly have a basic incentive to try and steer you towards Medomak, ultimately my interests will not be met if your interests are not met. So please understand the reason I am playing the role of information giver is because I am interested in finding families that are truly looking for what it is that Medomak Camp offers. At the same time, if you are looking for a family camp and Medomak is not ideal for your family, I want to be able to help you find a camp that is.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am the Director of Medomak Camp of Washington, Maine. Medomak used to be a children's summer camp for many years and in the early 90's, a former camper (not me) with four young children found herself in the position to purchase her childhood camp. The idea was to preserve the very valuable and very pretty property from the familiar fate of many summer camps: housing development. But when 250 acres of land also comes with 80 buildings, 3 dining halls and an arsenal of equipment, preservation also becomes about land use. Not only would it have been a shame to let all the buildings fall into disrepair, but it presented an opportunity to keep alive it's traditional use as a summer camp. So the owner reached out to alumni for ideas and the common thread was that they all loved camp and they all had young children. Organically, the idea of camp for the family was born.
A few years into the venture, I was recruited having had a decent amount of experience working at a children's camp while in college. When I first came to Medomak, what was immediately clear was that you could very easily take the summer camp for children model and adapt it to serve the needs of families. I think this observation is very important because to me it defines what a family camp is or what it ought to be.
As you do your search for family camps, keep front and center in your mind that not many people define family camp the same way and thus your search will be somewhat complicated by the terms broad use. The point of this blog is to help you better understand the important differences between the family camp programs, point you in the right direction and help you make a good choice. While I clearly have a basic incentive to try and steer you towards Medomak, ultimately my interests will not be met if your interests are not met. So please understand the reason I am playing the role of information giver is because I am interested in finding families that are truly looking for what it is that Medomak Camp offers. At the same time, if you are looking for a family camp and Medomak is not ideal for your family, I want to be able to help you find a camp that is.
posted by Dave at
11:53 AM
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