You can live without it, but if you miss Summer Camp you've missed a lot. It started out in the Fall when it was announced that next year we'll be old enough and experienced enough to go to Camp for two weeks. The cost would be $80.00 all meals included. No this isn't this year 2005; it's 1963.
In order to go we would all have to save money/earn money. One way was by selling raffle tickets for a Thanksgiving turkey. Ten cents a ticket, twelve on one page for $1.00. We got to keep half in our Camp Bank.
I made over $40.00 and had just $40.00 to go, I thought. The holidays came and went. We were supposed to go to camp the last two weeks in June. I made more money running errands and even tried to get a job, to no avail. No one wanted to hire a 12 year old. I had about $60.00 and things weren't looking too good.
I come from a family of 4 boys and a girl. My folks had just bought the house we were living in and were struggling. Both parents worked to make ends meet. There wouldn't be much money coming from home and I was worried I'd never see camp. They could hardly afford to buy us shoes. As I recall; I had walked around much of the Spring with a flip flop. Oh, not the sandal, but shoes that had the sole come loose so that when I walked the whole sole would flop when I walked. I would get it glued at the local shoemaker's store, but it never held.
This is probably the first time I came to appreciate the generosity of my neighbors. Our leader of summer camp knew that several kids wouldn't be able to come up with the money so he went out and recruited "Sponsors."
My sponsor actually paid for my whole summer camp and I had the money I earned/saved to spend. How great is that! My sponsor was the VFW Post from Portage Park-Chicago who also had a ladies' auxiliary. About monthly; at our meetings the ladies would always have a sweet table filled with cookies and brownies, FOR FREE! I always managed to take one or two home to Mom who would always save it and take it to work to eat at lunch.
The big day arrived. Downtown we went, a huge duffel bag in tow filled with clean underwear and tee shirts inscribed with my last name in indelible India Ink. There it was; Union Station where upon arriving encountered a throng of over 500 boys all going to the same camp. The train ride itself was an experience; as for me it was my first time ever on a train. It had drinking fountains and paper cups at either end of the car and even a bathroom.
I learned how to "pop" a paper cup by turning it over on the floor and stomping it with my heel. On the train we would sing "camp" songs and soon also learned there were other songs besides "Row Row Your Boat" and "100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall"
Our duffels were sorted by camp, I suppose there were 5 camps altogether; two at one lake and three on another. We always went to Camp West and as I soon found out our arch rivals were across the lake at Camp Stuart. Plans were made on the train, alliances formed and little did we realize; new friends, true friends that will never be forgotten.
Arriving at the area of the Camp we were lead over dunes and around pine trees; thru a marshy clay swamp about 2-3 miles from the train to Camp West! Our site was up on a hill. Our tents were already there; all set-up and even had a wooden floor. A truck brought our duffels which we didn't bother to unpack. Dinner was in half an hour at the mess hall. Just enough time to take a leak. Well some of us did. The toilets or Kybos as they were called were of the outdoor type and reeked. There were those who elected to "hold it."
We would wait outside the mess hall for the bell and then go inside to find our assigned places. We would sit in the same place almost everyday. We had 10 people to a table, two leaders at either end with 4 kids on either side. One "volunteer" would serve the food (bring it family style to the table). Two "volunteers" would do the cleanup including washing dishes, table and floor.
Dry and thirsty the first thing on the table was 'bug juice' "Hey, I'm not drinking that! What is it anyway?" These were the moans and groans all around the table. It turns out it's just Kool-Aid and let me tell you bug juice or not, it was ice cold and gooood! I don't know how the staff ever did it. Three meals a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner on time and so good, I mean; very good. It wasn't just because we were hungry. I never saw any food wasted.
After dinner it was announced that the Camp Store would be open for one hour. We decided it was time to stock up on pop and candy. Well, it seems like a good idea at the time. The pop went warm inside of an hour and the candy melted in your pocket. Stocking up really wasn't such a good idea. The store also sold craft materials that we could buy and have our leader show us how to make things like a lanyard that could hold a whistle by simply braiding. Since I didn't have a whistle I made an "Indian Bracelet." This looked much like the friendship bracelets of today only much more colorful. The store had everything, binoculars, knifes, shoelaces, the Camp Patch, and they paid a deposit on empty bottles of pop. We spent a lot of time collecting bottles and chasing frogs. This all stopped abruptly when one day while looking for bottles and frogs we came across a huge hissing black snake that scared the hell out of us. We were assured by our leader that the snake was harmless, a black racer, but they never hiss. Hey, did you hear me, this snake hissed! So we knew it wasn't a black racer and we
weren't about to find out what it was either.
Back at camp we learned how to clean the Kybo by pumping up, carrying and pouring two buckets of water down each hole and one or two on the floor while sweeping away the mud and sand. This had to be done each morning and evening by volunteers. Oh, yes, if no one volunteered, as was usually the case the leader would volunteer you. We soon found out that it was better to work with your close friends on these tasks than acquaintances who had formed alliances not including you. Otherwise, you would end up doing the whole job by yourself with them sitting around watching and if you protested you could end up with a red belly. Now a red belly is when you get held down by one or more kids while another starts to slap your tummy while wetting it with water or spit. After a few slaps you had a pink belly; with a red belly soon to follow. I always thought this a little sadistic; even then it just didn't seem right.
As night drew close we were ready to go to the huge welcoming campfire. The fire itself was humongous; reaching taller than most of the trees, but far enough away as not to cause a problem. You wouldn't roast marshmallows in this fire. If you got too close it would singe your eyebrows. Four huge logs at the base with four more on top and so on. The inside square filled with timber. Sparks flying. First up; authentic Indian Dancers in full costume and make-up. You think I wasn't scared? Next and even though there must have been 300 kids, We each would give our names and if we weren't scared to death of being singled out, tell a little more about ourselves. This being done we would learn camp songs. I guess my favorite is "She Waded in the Water" with "I See A Bear" a close second. "I See A Bear" was good because it had action. You would form a line of say eight or nine and the first person would say "I See A Bear" the second would say, "Where?" The first would say "Over There!" and point to the left or right. This would be repeated until each person had their left and right arms pointing in both directions, that is, until last person in line. After saying the last "Over There" by the person, now in a sitting position; would tilt over and knock over the entire line (who were already pretty tired and off balance).
"She Waded in the Water," was a teaser. Remember the age here is between 11-15 year old boys. It went
"She waded in the water til she got her toes all wet. (repeat) (repeat again)
"But she didn't get her (clap, clap) wet yet."
"She waded in the water and she got her toes all wet."
"She waded in the water and she got her ankles wet." (repeat)
"But she didn't get her (clap, clap) wet yet."
This goes on up the legs until, "She waded in the water and she finally got it wet." (repeat much slower)
Yes, she waded in the water and she finally got her bathing suit wet, YET!
Now if any of this sounds familiar, YOU went to camp. If it doesn't, YOU SHOULD HAVE! So how about
becoming a sponsor and send a kid to camp. There are many ways and places on the internet. Just do a simple search "send a kid to camp" and enter your area like Illinois to narrow it down. You will make some child's dream come true!
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