Stewardship Day at FLC

Do all you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, as long as ever you can. ~ John Wesley

Wesley’s words guide so much of our culture at FLC.  We live and work and play in sync with those around us, because that is what the environment calls us to do.  We serve one another in the Mess Hall before meals, we clean up our own tables after eating; We take ownership for our personal and communal spaces by being tasked with daily chores in our cabins; we help our counselors collect balls after soccer practice and pick up tennis balls on the courts after each lesson; if heavy rains set in we scurry about camp, rescuing other peoples items that may have been left outdoors; we bring left over apple cores down to the stables for the horses, we sit on one another’s beds at the end of the day and share personal highs and lows, and we find ourselves reaching out to another if a day feels particularly difficult. This is camp, this is Forest Lake Camp!  We are stewards of one another and the place we call our summer home. This way of being becomes a natural part of the way we interact with one another and our surroundings each and every summer in the Adirondacks!

This past summer we created a themed day called Stewardship Day. The point of this day is to intentionally think more about our environment and our relationship to it and one another. During Stewardship last summer,  we woke up in the morning and shared quotes about the environment and the value to protect it for future generations to enjoy. We weighed our food waste after each meal and discussed ways to minimize our waste.  During the day, campers in each division of camp set off on four different on-camp hikes, allowing everyone the opportunity to appreciate the immediate surroundings of camp and its beauty. On each hike campers participated in some trail work to help improve our trail systems around camp. During the afternoon, campers repaired bat houses, made homemade paper, built fairy houses, made homemade ice cream and pinecone bird feeders, planted seeds, made boats from birch bark and sticks, and practiced survival skills in the outdoors. Each and every one of our Stewardship activities focused on giving back and learning through fun hands-on experiences!

One of FLC’s Promises to our campers and families is, “we will preserve the natural beauty of our setting” – there is no doubt that FLC’s Stewardship Day meets this mission and plays an important role in helping our campers learn how important our relationship with nature is.

We will continue to serve one another and our environment each and every day while at camp; we can’t wait for Stewardship Day 2017 to introduce a whole host of new activities for our campers to enjoy!