We did a thing!

WE DID A THING

July 2021


This is the story of how we got from MarWired to Marwood (at a new location and shortened format) in about 50 days.

 

Every action taken was a piece laid in a beautiful jigsaw puzzle.  

 

Over the following 48 days, here’s what happened:

(This was all wedged into the counselors’ daily family, friends and work lives.)

 

We sent a pre-registration email to parents and campers trying to gauge interest and availability.  Many families completely rearranged their summer plans and vacations on short notice to ensure their kids got to come to camp.   We ended up with 62 campers across 5 years.  Our target is usually 64 campers over 4 years.  

 

(In telling this story, we want to acknowledge that there were several campers who really wanted to be there but we’re unable to attend either due to scheduling conflicts or vaccinations, and that was hard.  They are still part of our community, were very much missed and our love is always with them.)

 

Given the new location and shortened format, we had to rethink and rearrange everything we do.  There was no auto-pilot at all.  We had to really be intentional about what programs and elements were most important to the campers and how to navigate having two “graduating classes” (both 4th and 5th years). Hopefully we got pretty close to the mark. Unfortunately we did have a couple misses that we tried to adjust on the fly during camp as much as we could.  

 

We had three brand new counselors and one who had never been to in-person camp before.  Meredith and Elba unfortunately couldn’t make it. (But Elba kept us well loved with her class preparations, as well as COOKIES and snacks she pre-prepared for us.)  We were also missing our newly retired Terry K., Carol K., and Amory with their combined 85+ years of Marwood experience.  Although Terry and Carol did end up making cameos.  Terry dropped off his grandkids and when Erin’s (our new nurse) flight got canceled and she ended up on a 10 hour journey driving from Duluth, MN, Carol offered to come and stay for camper check-in to collect meds and set Erin up for the week (Bless you Carol!️).

 

What’s incredible about all of this pre-planning is that while yes, it was A LOT, all of the big things fell into place as if they were meant to be.  Most of the counselors were available, the location was doable and available, food could be catered so we didn’t have to try and coordinate that (thank goodness!), and lifeguards were available for beach trips.  Each puzzle piece slipped in with ease exactly where it was supposed to be.

 

Camp Starts!

We were unsure how the week would go, given all the collective trauma and isolation from the pandemic and resulting anxiety.  Sometimes it takes a couple of days for the campers to get into the flow of camp.  But this year, they showed up ready and dove right into everything. Any concerns we had were quickly laid to rest.  We had a couple of the usual homesick kids for the first day but mostly everyone settled into a rhythm fairly well.  

 

Given we’re a pretty close and huggy camp, we gave campers contact comfort bracelets. If they wore a green bracelet, hugs were ok, if yellow, they preferred elbow touches only, and red meant no contact please.  That allowed the more apprehensive campers ease into camp instead of getting bombarded with hugs, which can be hard for some people who aren’t used to that or didn’t feel safe having contact yet.  By the end of the week, almost everyone was wearing green.  

 

During the week we were running late for just about everything.  We are used to running on a fairly consistent bell schedule but this was more like a Salvador Dali clock. And we made it work.  

 

Because the camp space was bigger and needed more eyes in more places, the entire counselor group was never able to be together.  It was NON.  STOP.  We’re used to having a counselor meeting every day with everyone to talk through issues, schedules and logistics but that wasn’t possible here unfortunately.  In fact, the only time all 14 of us were together during the week was for the three minutes it took to take the counselor picture for banquet night.  That meant all of our coordination was done piecemeal or on our walkie talkies (those were fun actually!)  And we made it work.

 

The campers seemed to soak in everything, and really did a phenomenal job of rolling with the changes and just being excited to be together.  Their heartfelt kindness towards each other and the counselors was a beauty to behold.  Watching them just “BE” together in normalcy was a gift; seeing old friends, making new ones, and reaching out to those who may be struggling. Their hearts were open.  Many lives were changed this week.  Many hearts started healing.

 

On the last night of camp, the 4th and 5th years led a campfire where they shared wisdom from their Marwood years with the younger campers.  It was so clear that the messages of love, kindness, and unconditional acceptance were as strong as ever.  Among all this busyness, the central message of Marwood appeared and was felt by all.  We must admit that it was one of many moments that moved us to tears.  It was all so worth it.

 

Tower Hill was such a great place to land for us for this year.  The camp director, Tracy, and her team were so welcoming, accommodating and supportive.  They worked really hard to ensure we had a good experience there, even though they were very short staffed.  We’re extremely grateful for their hospitality.

 

Thank you to those who sent good vibes, love, donated, bought some swag or purchased something off our Amazon wish list.  The wish list was helpful not only from the cutting down on camp costs perspective but also especially helpful in cutting down on the running around counselors normally do before camp - we were a little short on time.

 

We truly felt the support of the entire Marwood community, past and present.  There’s no sugar coating it - this was a monumental feat that would not have happened without all of these puzzle pieces falling perfectly into place - as if they were predestined and we just needed to fit them there.  Everytime we hit a bump, we had a safety net appear below us to catch our fall.  We are so grateful to be part of such a dynamic counselor group that was able to roll our sleeves up, dig in, and pull this off all while giving each other grace and support when things seemed hard. This was an amazing collaboration of counselors, campers, parents, alumni, Tower Hill staff and supporting members of the broader Marwood community-- all working at their best on this shared journey and towards this common goal for these campers.  


Never underestimate the power of the Marwood spirit and love.  It truly moved mountains in this case.  It brought us back home to the dunes, it brought us back home to our community and it brought us back home to ourselves.  We loved and were loved.  We healed and were healed.  We were home. Together.