Camp Coming to Life

Leading into a typical season, alumni would have gathered at Camp before campers arrive to pitch the tents and, in recent years, complete work on the lean-to’s. As we all know, this was unfortunately not a year of business as usual. It should not be surprising that Rising Sun alumni did not miss an opportunity to be of even greater service. With the campus empty of our expected 2020 cohort, our Building and Grounds Committee, along with Facility Manager Cameron Rylance and Director of Operations Savannah Hawke, created a week of volunteer projects. What would have been just two days of paying it forward, and prepping the campus for a new group of change makers, turned into seven days of volunteering. 

It is difficult to ascribe a value to this type of effort. On so many levels, this group of volunteers embodied the values of Camp Rising Sun. Similarly to how we teach our campers through “Project Time” that it is important to put effort into work that may not directly benefit oneself, this group donated their time to work to improve the campus for campers they may never meet. On a deeper level, this group of alumni came together on campus and formed a community, living, working, eating, laughing and sharing side by side. While it is no replacement for a full season of campers, I will think of this group as our 2020 cohort. Finally, with the sweat hours donated, LAJF was able to afford to accomplish so many more projects than if we had to subcontract it out. 

What is most interesting to me is that at the end of the week, after the new sports pavilion had been constructed, the camper bathroom gutted, camper’s lounge painted, hallway floor refinished and more….it was the volunteers who were thanking us for allowing them to spend the week at Camp. They got so much back from the experience of giving, so much so that they are planning another weekend of service soon, on October 17-18. You can register here! We plan to build a new lean-to on tent hill! 

Please note, New York State COVID safety protocols will be followed for events. 

Snapshots from Volunteer Week 2020

Thank you once more to our incredible volunteers!

If you’re interested in joining us October 17th-18th for our upcoming volunteer weekend, please register here.