YMCA Frost Valley

Frost Valley YMCA is a camping, environmental education, and conferencing center located in the Catskill Mountains of New York. Founded in 1901 as Camp Wawayanda, the camp moved to its present location in 1958.

During the Summer, Frost Valley runs a summer camp for 6-15 year-olds, most of whom are from New York City and its surrounding metro area. Throughout the rest of the year, Frost Valley hosts school groups and other organizations for environmental education and conferencing activities.

ummer camp

The summer camp program at Frost Valley runs for eight weeks (four sessions, 12 days each). Each session starts on a Sunday and ends on a Friday, and nearly 500 campers attend each session. About 250 summer-time staff arrive the week before the first session, many of whom were campers when they were younger. Campers are broken up into villages by age and live together in cabin groups. Each village has a corresponding brother or sister village for the opposite gender of the same age. Camp is separated in to two halves (by age), Camp Wawayanda and Camp Henry Hird. During the day, the camp schedule includes Specialties, Waterfront, Sports & Games, Feeling Good and Evening Program.

The Wellness Philosophy has been a part of camp for several decades. The camp promotes healthy eating and exercise, and to the campers' dismay, does not allow candy at camp.

Villages

The villages in Wawayanda are: Pokey (Pocohontas) and Totem, Susky (Susquehanna) and Forest, Lakota and Outpost. The villages in Henry Hird are: Sacky (Sacajawea) and Hemlock, Tacoma and Lenape, Windsong and Pac (Quinnipiac). There are also several mixed-gender villages with special focuses: Adventure Village (previously known as Woodwise), Sycamore (for the oldest campers, with special trips and leadership projects) and MAC (Mainstreaming at Camp, for those with developmental disabilities).

Various other villages have also existed in the history of the camp, including Sequoia, an adventure village, and Phoenix, the precursor to Sycamore. Iscusfa was an arts program that was last ran in Summer 2005.

Villages are located in groupings of cabins or lodges and most villages are usually 30-40 campers each. Campers live in cabins or lodges that sleep eight per room. There is a 1 to 4 counselor to camper ratio.

Mainstreaming at Camp (MAC)

Mainstreaming at Camp (MAC) is a village formed with YAI National Institute for People with Disabilities, for children and young adults with developmental disabilities. www.yai.org/camping

Tokyo-Frost Valley Partnership

Established in 1975, over 1000 children and adolescents with kidney disease have attended the resident camp program at Frost Valley YMCA, under the supervision of the Ruth Gottscho Dialysis and Children's Kidney Program. The first program of its kind in the US, today the Frost Valley program is still unique in its efforts to mainstream the children with kidney disease into cabins and programs with other children. Children receiving hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis, in chronic renal failure, or post-transplant, are able to participate in a traditional residential camp experience, while gaining confidence and independence, in what may be their first time away from home. Campers are able to meet other children with medical problems similar to their own and are also able to be "teachers" to their counselors and cabin mates. They learn new skills and improve techniques for their own medical management. The children are part of the mainstream camp environment, and participate as fully as possible in all camping activities, meeting other campers from all walks of life, and from around the world. The program is based in a full-service, on-site dialysis unit, equipped for hemodialysis, continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD), as well as care of the post-transplant and pre-dialysis camper. The unit is staffed by pediatric nephrologists and nephrology nurses, under the supervision of the Children's Hospital at Montefiore. Special attention is given to the individual medical and developmental needs of each child, and treatment schedules are arranged to allow for maximum participation in camp activities.

Counselor-in-Training program

The Counselor in Training (CIT) program is a month-long program for 16-year-olds who have an interest in becoming camp counselors. The program consists of one session in-camp and one session on an out-trip. During the in-camp portion, CITs work together to plan and run programs for campers. The out-trip has varied in length from 6 to 10 days and includes backpacking through the Catskill Mountains. Many CITs return to camp the following year to become Junior Counselors when they are 17 years-old.

Adventure programs

The Adventure Trip program has been in existence since 1968 when Henry "Bud" Cox took a group of teens on a 2-week backpacking trip throughout the Catskills. Today, Adventure Trips travel around the country and are expanding to international destinations as well. These trips are designed for boys and girls ages 11-17 who are looking for a different experience than the traditional resident camp. Trips vary from traditional backcountry adventures to service learning expeditions focused on giving back to needy communities. Activities available through the Trip program include whitewater rafting, rock climbing, backpacking, canoeing, surfing, skateboarding, spelunking, volunteer service, biking, sea kayaking, and high ropes. Other offerings are beginning to appear as well including a Spring Break trip to New Orleans to assist Habitat for Humanity.

External links

* [http://www.frostvalley.org Frost Valley's Homepage]
* {http://www.frostvalley.org/for_parents/camp_programs/dialysis_center.php kidney program]