As of December 15, there are 194 days until Summer 2014 begins at Camp Echo Lake... Winter Address: Summer Address: 3 West Main Street PO Box 188 Elmsford, NY 10523 Warrensburg, NY 12885 Tel: 914-345-9099 Tel: 518-623-9635 Fax: 914-345-2120 Fax: 518-623-3316 www.campecholake.com www.campecholake.com - From the Clipboard of Tony Stein... It is such a special time of year and we hope that you, like all of us, will be spend ing it with your friends and family. For us at Echo Lake, with the turning of the new year, it becomes time to get our “game faces” on at the office. When the new year comes, we can start to sense that summer is on its way – and we can’t wait. Each and every year, Laurie, Brenda, Jacko, JP and I will attend conferences sponsored by the American Camping Association that are most informative and helpful as we conduct our planning for camp. This year, however, we are branching beyond the camp conferences and each of us will be participating in- professional development experiences that we expect to help us bring back new and better ideas to Echo Lake this summer. Jacko has already attended the New York State Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AHPERD) Conference in Syracuse. Conference topics included sessions on athletic instruc tion, health and wellness, activity lesson planning, just to name a few. What Jacko has brought back from that conference are a host of new ideas related to activity and athletic instruction at Echo Lake and maximizing our activity offerings to give our campers programmatic opportunities that feed their desires to learn, develop skills and have a sense of accomplishment. In the spring, Laurie and Brenda will be attending a conference in San Francisco entitled “Teaching Self- Aware Minds: Using Brain Science to Boost Social and Emotional Skills.” The learning objectives for this conference include the best ways to boost self-awareness, self-identity, social skills and resilience among young people. It is co-hosted by, among others, the School of Education at Stanford University, the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Yale School of Medicine. Laurie and Brenda are most excited to enhance their own set of skills when it comes to Human Development and incorporating what they learn into our staff training as well as how to set up our campers for success. Also after the new year, JP and I, along with our entire Food Service Staff will be spending an entire day with our primary food service supplier. They are putting together a one-day mini-conference for us featuring their corporate chef and nutritionist that will focus on menu review, the latest thinking in school and youth nutrition and wellness as well as providing us with new and creative recipes for camp. What we all hope to gain from all of these educational experiences is to ensure that we stay current on all things impacting kids today – and using the best ideas we can find to continually improve Echo Lake. Here is wishing all of you a very happy holiday season and a wonderful New Year. Tony, Emily, Evan and Violet In this Issue... Winter 2013 *Directors Letters: *Project Morry Info & Update Tony’s Clipboard *MV Winter Escape Information Amy’s Letter from Florida *Staff Bulletin Board: Shout Outs Around the Campfire with Laurie *Campers Corner: Exciting News *From the Desk Of.... *At Home Activity: Tennis Senior Village Director Brenda *CEL Reunion Re-Cap Operations Director JP *Your Big Back Yard with Terry & Glenn Program Director Jacko *Memories of Echo: Photos from Summer 2013 *Page Six: Alumni Happenings *Happy Birthday Wishes Dear Current Camp Families, Alumni, Staff, and Friends, A fabulous little volume called Morry Stories: Memories of a Summer Camp Legend was published just a few weeks ago. It’s a collection of stories about a beloved man of rare charisma, a unique human being who inspired all his campers and staff as well as everyone in the camping profession. Morry touched so many lives and made so much impact in his short but memorable 58 years. The book is funny, touching and very illuminating - a terrific tribute to someone truly unforgettable. It is the brainchild of Jennifer Leventhal, whose children attend Echo Lake and whose husband went to Echo Lake and it is truly a labor of love. Among the contributors are Laurie Rinke, Glenn and Terry Begly, Renee Pearl Sigler. There are many more, too, of course To order your very own copy go to: www.projectmorry.org. It’s a delightful read. The $50 cost goes directly to Project Morry. Your purchase will support the oh so promising boys and girls who are the beneficiaries of this wonderful philanthropy. We love to use the numbers 9, 12 and 100 in describing all 400 of them. They are all committed to Project Morry’s 9 year program. Our program mentors them 12 months a year and fully 100% of them gradu- ate from high school! Yes, we feel very proud of what we, and they, are able to accomplish due to your generosity. Thanks, much love to you all. Let us know how much you enjoy the book when you get it. We are so very happy about it. Amy Around the Campfire with Laurie Holiday lights are twinkling, the first flakes of snow are falling, and the smell of pine trees (even if you’re not at camp) is caught in the wind. It’s the holiday season and it is magical. For me, the holidays are about two things: the joy of being with family and friends and giving back to others. It’s almost like the calendar’s way of asking us: have you given to someone in need? Have you been as compassionate as you could be? Have you put the needs of others before your own? Or simply, have you given the gift of kindness? In a world of excess we sometimes forget that the greatest gift you can give someone is often the simplest: your time, your compassion, your kindness. “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” ~Leo Buscaglia Think about a time when someone did something nice for you for no reason. How did that make you feel? What did that inspire you to do? When the holiday season becomes bogged down with stress, sometimes the simplest gesture of kindness can turn that around. You don’t need money, just an open heart and the willingness to make someone else feel appreciated, thanked, cared about, or noticed. It can be as simple as holding the door, saying please and thank you, giving up your seat, writing a note to tell someone what they mean to you, mak- ing a donation, smiling at someone you don’t know, baking cookies for a neighbor, anything that you do for another person that is from your heart. Just like giving someone a Fuzzy makes you feel a Warm Inner Glow, giving someone the gift of kindness – even if you do it anonymously – will give you a Warm Inner Glow too. Continued at the top of the next page AROUND THE CAMPFIRE WITH LAURIE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2... The best part of giving the gift of kindness is that you never know what that kindness will inspire others to do or how far forward that gift may be paid. “Every kind act, no matter how small, is like a pebble tossed into the pond of human caring...the rings reach out far beyond the point of impact.” ~Anonymous. Kindness is contagious and if you make sharing gifts of kindness something you do every day, all year long, YOU can truly play a part in changing the world. As the late, great Nelson Mandela said, “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” Camp Echo Lake, let’s change the world. If we find ways to give the gift of kindness at least once a day, imagine the impact we will have? Imagine the ripple of kindness? I want to hear about the kindness you see in the world too. Send me emails or Facebook posts (www.facebook.com/CampEchoLake) with the #CELkindness and include stories of gifts of kindness that were given to you or that you gave to others. The holidays are magical and if CEL commits to giving gifts of kindness, it will be extra Warm and Fuzzy for sure. Happy, healthy, magical, and kind wishes to you and your family for the holidays and the New Year! Love and xoxo, Laurie From the Desks of. The Adirondack Almanac Hey everybody! I want to first wish everyone a healthy and happy holiday season. By the time you read this you will be right in the middle of the holiday swing of things! The holi- JP days are great for catching up with all the family and friends you never seem to talk to enough over the course of the year. Operations Director Camp is like that too, you get to see a whole bunch of friends that you normally don’t see all year long.