One of our core principals is “Reaching Out”.

Most of the time, this means reaching out to other campers and counselors. We want to help everyone feel valued and included. Perhaps more importantly, we want them to have the experience of valuing and including others.

But sometimes “reaching out” means “giving back”.

With this in mind, our Senior Campers spend half a day each term volunteering. They have helped a animal rescue facility, a helping hands center, and elderly neighbors. We have also adopted a mile of highway near camp.

Earlier this summer, they went to Johnson Park in Marble Falls to help them clean up. The city workers were a little unsure about having 20 or so teenagers arrive to help. Usually, the words “teenager” and “help” are not used in the same sentence. But they were willing to give our crew the benefit of the doubt.

It took over a month, but one of the city staff shared this photo with us. He was surprised by two things. First, he found our Senior Campers pleasant and hard-working. Second, he was shocked at the amount of detritus they accumulated. This photo was one of several.

Do not worry that their entire day was toil. They enjoyed floating a river later and an outdoor meal at a “real restaurant”. Yessir – living the big life!

Steve Sir