Growing numbers while away summer at camp

More than 20,000 campers from around the world attended Camp Fitch last year.

By AMANDA C. DAVIS

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

POLAND — Bob and Marie Houston want to do everything to ensure their sons have the best possible childhood.

That’s why, for the past three summers, 12-year-old Bobby and 11-year-old Ryan have been swimming, playing, making friends and building lifelong memories.

Instead of spending the summer playing video or computer games, the Houston brothers spend most of June and July at various camps.

It seems that nowadays, parents have an endless array of choices when it comes to camp. More traditional camps offer the true camping experience that includes arts and crafts, various forms of outdoor recreation and the promise of roasted marshmallows and songs ’round the campfire.

But at Camp Jam, where the motto is “No Canoes. Lots of Rock,” the air is filled with fierce guitar licks and thumping bass rather than songs about canoes and apples and bananas.

Specialized camping experiences

But more and more, camp is becoming individualized, with both day and residential sleep-away programs. There is camp for aspiring clowns, rock stars, writers, poets, fashion designers, astronauts — even spies. Individual sports camps help perfect the skills of campers in swimming, tennis, football, baseball, basketball and other areas.

There are also camps for seniors, families, at-risk youths, the disabled and those with chronic illnesses.

According to the American Camp Association, of the estimated 12,000 camps in the U.S., 7,000 are residential and 5,000 are day camps.

Bob Houston calls himself the ultimate “camp man” who encourages his children to pursue their passions and interests at basketball, football, swimming and church camps every summer.

“I do it for them, so they have something structured to do,” Bob Houston said. “I want them to build up some memories of their childhood.”

As a kid, Houston went to Camp Fitch along Lake Erie and said his sons look forward to it each year because of the wide range of activities and free time available.

“When my kids get older, they’ll be able to say their old man was crazy about camps,” he joked.

The boys say they like being away from mom and dad over the summer, but admit they do miss them — sometimes. Both said they’re quite sure they’ll remain lifelong campers.

Their mom says the children get a lot out of camp in terms of experience and social interaction. And though she misses them, she says it’s OK because “I know they’re having a great time.”

Camp Fitch

Bill Lyder is executive director of Camp Fitch, a branch of the Youngstown YMCA, about 90 miles from the Mahoning Valley in North Springfield, Pa.

Kids and adults from around the world attend the camp each year, Lyder said, adding that more than 90 campers came last year from Spain.

It’s the kind of place where campers return year after year, and Lyder said it’s considered to be among the top 10 camps in the country in terms of facilities.

In 2006, 20,039 campers, including students, Scouts and church and weekend groups, attended Camp Fitch. Of those, 3,200 were there during summer.

“We have been growing in total numbers with every year,” Lyder said, calling the camp a gem that’s affordable for most families.

Camp Fitch, on 450 acres, opened in 1914 and has two camps, Chicagami for girls 8 years and older, and Ot-Yo-Kwa for boys 8 years and older. Though cost depends on the program and length, YMCA members pay $420 for a week of traditional camp and nonmembers pay $470.

Traditional sleep-away camp is offered in the summer, along with camps for sports and special needs such as diabetes and epilepsy. This year will be the first time the camp offers a program for the deaf.

Also available are group camping, adventure trips and “noggin camps,” education-based programs focusing on computers, music and leadership skills for counselors-in-training.

Rich history

The Friend family of Boardman has a long and rich history with Camp Fitch that dates back more than 60 years.

Howard “Howdy” Friend became a tent leader at the camp in 1942, became village director in 1943 and left for WWII shortly after. He took shrapnel in the leg during a battle in the Belgian town of Bastogne and was discharged in 1946.

“I decided to go back to Camp Fitch to work there and recuperate,” he said.

Dave Williams, camp director at the time, hired Friend back as village director. Friend began dating Williams’ daughter, Gert, who also spent a lot of time at the camp, and the two studied together at Mount Union College before getting married.

The Friends will have been married 57 years in June and have three children and nine grandchildren.

From the time they were little, the Friends’ children attended Camp Fitch, and in high school, the whole clan began attending family camp, the third week in August — a tradition they maintain today.

“It’s really been a part of our lives,” Howdy Friend said. “The fact that we met there made it special to us.”

Over the years, most of the Friend children and grandchildren have been on staff at the camp, and Howdy has been involved in fundraising for various projects and is vice president of the YMCA board of trustees.

The family believes very strongly in the camp, and Howdy said kids become a family there and it doesn’t matter what background they come from.

“Everyone is on an even par,” he said. “It’s the nicest experience a boy or a girl can have.”

Farm camp

A short drive from the Mahoning Valley area will take you to a camp of a much different nature.

At the Country School Farm in Becks Mills, Holmes County, campers experience what it’s like to live on a family farm.

Richard and Penny Barker, both Montessori teachers, run the farm in the heart of America’s largest Amish settlement.

The co-ed camp, established in 1976 about 40 miles southwest of Canton, is open to kids 6 to 13 and ranges in price from $650-$999 for a week’s stay.

A typical week at the 42-acre farm includes getting up close with animals and nature through milking, walks along the creek, games, arts, crafts, quilting, wood-working and chores. The Barkers are not Amish but do observe a simpler life without TVs and other electronics. They do communicate through e-mail and have a cell phone in case children need to contact their parents.

Richard Barker says a week’s stay without the influence of TV, radios and other media immerses the child in the moment.

“The week then becomes a here and now thing,” he said. “Children blend with the farm.”

Learning life lessons

Many campers who are now adults have contacted the Barkers to let them know the real-life experience offered on the farm has significantly affected their lives, Barker said, adding, “That is sort of the magic of the place.”

Nine-year-old Bobby Parsons of Salem has attended the camp the past two years and says farm life appeals to him.

Though he hopes to be an attorney one day, Parsons said the camp experience will always keep him close to nature. He added his favorite parts of the camp are the animals he gets to pet and help feed.

His mother, Teresa, said that Bobby looks forward to the sleep-away camp every year and that it has taught him important lessons about independence, responsibility, recycling and plant and animal life.

“It taught him a lot about how to be less selfish and work close with other children,” she said. “And it taught him how to be away from mom and dad.”