Volunteering their service, campers bond together while helping to build a new stone platform, complete with a large 'A' for Adirondack
At Adirondack, we try to assign some responsibilities to go along with privileges and age. And so, for example, an older camper may be asked if he or she might like to be a big sister or brother to a younger or first time camper who might have just a small need for an extra shoulder to lean on or an instant friend who can be counted on.
And so it is with community service. We are all privileged to be here at Adirondack. We are, indeed, regardless of from whence we come, the privileged few. We need not feel remorseful about our privileges – only grateful and responsible. In that spirit, every camper is encouraged to help out the larger community in which he or she lives. “Service” may include helping others to set out entrees during meal times, cleaning out a campfire circle, or even moving a woodpile. Weekly community service will also include chores like sorting cabin laundry bags for distribution on Laundry Day and regularly setting out lost and found items to be reunited with their owners.
Contributing something permanent back to camp allows kids to have a sense of responsibility and accomplishment.
At Adirondack Camp, individual campers experience tremendous personal growth and the community develops into a supportive, nurturing, oversized, but well-functioning family. Community service serves both these masters. Campers who choose to participate in Awiskini or to earn points toward their Adirondack Emblem must first, give of themselves – and give a little bit more at each level of Junior, Intermediate or Senior. Service is never physically demanding, but it has been known to be enlightening. It’s also the kind of activity that has everyone being thankful to everyone for pitching in and doing all the small but important things that make our community all that much safer, friendlier, cleaner and smoother running.
