WE CARE ABOUT IMPACT
I can’t really describe it but...
Camp holds a special place in my heart. Every time I think about it, I smile. With fear of sounding cliche, it really is a magical place. As I think about it, I realize that it doesn’t really have all that much to do with the activities we do. It has to do with the people who come. It is the staff who remember what it is like to be a child, to feel a little worried about being away from home and not knowing anyone. These staff who also care so much about making the experience unforgettable for the campers and for themselves. It is the campers who step outside of their comfort zones from minute number one at camp to put themselves in a position of growth and positivity who will return home as different people than when they came.
Now, we are thoughtful in the design of camp and all of its activities in order to promote connection and impact but what happens at camp is kind of hard to describe. It is a “dance” of people getting to know one another all while taking care of themselves. It is full of a lot of “firsts” such as being away from home, losing a tooth and not knowing if the fairy will find us, hiking up a mountain, summer tubing with a new friend, taking a class in a genre that we never have before, and brushing your teeth without mom’s urging.
So much happens in such a short period of time. The friendships that I watch flourish at camp and for years thereafter are those of “best friends for life”! We GET each other and it isn’t just about dance. Campers find commonality and bond in talking about their favorite foods, school subjects, people and hobbies outside of dance. It is a community of people who come from all over the world to celebrate their love of dance but who end up finding a whole lot more than that.
An example of our thoughtful intention...
At the end of camp, we host an experience that really helps kids to SEE and BE SEEN in who they are and how they show up. It is called the “circle of love”, where everyone sits in a circle facing outward. A few people are chosen to stand in the middle of that circle and when the “host”of the circle says a statement, those standing people go and touch the backs of whomever the statement applies to. For instance, as the host, I might say….”I think this person is a leader and doesn’t yet know it” to which the standing people go and touch anyone and everyone that that statement is TRUE for. Everyone in the circle gets a chance to stand in the middle to touch people and all get to experience their back being touched by people as well.
The beauty in this moving and heart warming exercise is that people get to show others how they SEE them and those people in turn get to feel how they are SEEN. What I love about this is that often times we show up in the world feeling unseen or unappreciated by those around us, especially as kids navigating school. This exercise tells people that they matter and that they are appreciated even by people they may have just met a week or two earlier.
Evidence that it isn’t just me who thinks Camp is cool...
In the last 5 years we have hosted hundreds of kids and I feel that we have sent each child home from camp happier and stronger than when they came. Recently, we got a letter from one of our campers’ moms from Florida. It read,
….I want to say thank you for changing the path our lives are on. While, that may sound a bit dramatic it is the case for our family. Jaden has always made friends easily but never really had a friend she connected with until Camp Telaphiba. I do not know what you guys put in their water but it made such a dramatic impact on her that we are planning to move our family across the country from the beaches of South Florida to Colorado…..
The two of us drove across the country, 1800 miles each way, for her to attend camp….. I dropped her off as one person and when I picked her up she had completely changed. She met so many other kids like her, whom she truly connected with. She felt like a part of something and less alone for the first time in her life. It is now several months later and that group of kids still talk every single day!
I want you to know I recognize in you that what you do for these kids does make the world a better place and probably saves more of their lives than you can imagine! Thank you for all you did for our daughter and making her life even better!
This letter stopped me in my tracks. It confirmed for me that Camp really is magical and full of impact organically and intentionally. The community at camp creates an environment to help these people to go and make a difference in their worlds when they leave. This Florida family has now moved to Colorado and will be attending camp again this summer for the third time.