After our campers (grades 4-12) leave camp, a different type camper arrives….families!  It’s a bit of a shift for us!  It’s strange having so many grownups around.  And yet, for the past two years, it’s been one of the most special weeks of the year for us.  This summer, 16 families joined us at camp.  We spent the days enjoying the absolutely perfect August weather in Vermont – swimming and boating, zipping on the ropes course, playing sports, doing art and most importantly, getting to know each other.  For many of our Family Camp campers, this is their first camp experience and it is very special for us to watch them gain a sense of independence and pride that they’ve never felt anywhere else.  Of course, we experience this at “regular” camp all the time but to experience this through a parent’s eyes is truly exceptional.  Parents have actually gotten a chance to witness what we do every day of the summer and it only reinforces how special camp can be.

What’s also been so valuable to us has been the relationships we’ve seen develop amongst the parents who come to camp.  We have felt so lucky to have learned so much from the parents who bring their campers to camp.  During family camp, we spend all day talking and laughing and crying with them and have a chance to hear about what life is truly like for each of them.  They form their own community of support and strength and being able to experience that has been very special for us

When we started Akeela, we always dreamed that it would be more than just a summer experience for our campers and their families.  We wanted it to be a community that had some impact on people throughout the year.  Family Camp has been one way in which we’ve done that.  We continue to think about ways to expand our mission to include more families over a greater length of time and hope that more and more children and parents will have an opportunity to experience Akeela in the future.

-Debbie and Eric