University of Virginia Library

'Camp Faith' Doesn't Hold To Stereotyped Image

By Charley Sands

It is hard to ignore the
uncomfortable feeling one gets
when talking about church-run
summer camps. An almost
inevitable picture comes to mind of
bored kids absently basket-weaving
or making tacky little plaques
under the tired supervision of their
equally bored counselors. Both the
campers and the counselors seem
lost in a multitude of "arts and
crafts" programs that are at least
superficially designed to
"encourage creativity" and "spark
imagination" but seem merely to be
based on the desire of parents to
keep as many of the inmates as
possible occupied and "off the
streets, where they can't make
trouble."

Camp Faith, a free summer day
camp founded by the Monticello
parish of the Episcopal church, is
happily one camp that doesn't fit
the usual mold. Whereas in many
organizations of its type camp
activities are an end in themselves
(the "It keeps them off the streets"
mentality), at Camp Faith all
activities are means toward the
development of interpersonal
relationships between the kids and
their counselors, who are usually
around 17 to 20 years old. Opening
every summer about a week after
the close of school, the camp is a
continuation and expansion of the
Trinity Program, a year-round
neighborhood program serving the
northwest part of Charlottesville.
Camp Faith began as an idea with
little else but faith to support it.
Then, through the generosity of Mr.
John Murray, a 200-acre site was
provided on a no-rent loan. The
camp, located near Earlysville,
contains a six acre lake for
swimming and boating. The rest of
the facilities were created totally
through the efforts of community
volunteers, most of whom were to
become the camp's first counselors.
They built a forty-foot dock, a
swimming float, an activities
pavilion, a softball field and a
storage shed. They also cleared
away brush, built up a waterfront
beach area, bridged a creek, and
blazed trails.

Camp Faith is supported
entirely by local contributions and
volunteer workers despite its size,
which may reach 1800 children this
summer. No government funds are
involved. John Lowe, President of
the Camp Faith Board of Directors,
says, "This is not in criticism of
government programs - some of
them are very necessary - but
simply says that there are some
things that individual people and
communities must do by
themselves, so that they realize that
the program depends on them for
its success. This is a self-help
program."

Camp Faith has no unlimited
supply of money, so the directors
have learned how to stretch a
dollar. In one recent year they
provided 4,000 pack lunches, 4,000
hot meals, 12,000 doughnuts and
13,000 half-pints of milk for less
than $900.00. This is, to be sure,
partly made possible through
contributions, but a great deal of
credit goes to careful shopping.

The budgeted cost to send one
child to camp for two weeks is
slightly over $10.00. "We are
counting on the largest part of our
budget coming from contributions
by the families of the community,"
said Mr. Lowe, "and this is what we
want anyway, in keeping with the
community character of the
program."

The fact that the camp is
operated entirely on
non-governmental funds has
sparked a spirit of private enterprise
and initiative in the whole
community. Particularly has the
effect been noticed in the teenagers
from very low income families," he
continued. "After building the
swimming raft, several boys wanted
to build additional ones and sell
them - to raise money for the
camp. The long range benefits from
such imagination are difficult to
assess but certainly hold great
promise."

"Great promise" is
certainly a phrase that applies to
Camp Faith. From the undeveloped
field of the camp's beginnings word
has spread of the camp's
accomplishments. Three land
donations for other campsites have
been received and these areas are
scheduled to go into operation this
summer. The Keswick Community
Center at the Union Run Church
together with new locations in
Esmont and near Cobham are the
beginnings of what is hoped to be a
continued growth. Under a new
plan, camp counselors will be
bussed to these community centers.
It is hoped that the local nature of
these organizations would inspire
community spirit equal to that
of Camp Faith. Several University
students from the School of
Architecture have also been
studying a prospective site on the
Mechums River. This area is about

4-500 acres in size and would be
the first permanent campsite as all
other areas are not owned by Camp
Faith, Inc., but are on long-term
loan.

However, if Camp Faith merely
created some spirit and created a
bit of initiative, it might be
replaceable by a well-run
government agency. The fact that
the program's participants consider
the camp irreplaceable points to the
success of its fulfillment of its
reason for existence. Obviously, the
primary objectives for the camp
concern the kids in the program.
The camp aims at creating for its
8-12 year old participants "a close
interpersonal relationship with a
responsible older person who will
show the child love and care, and
(help him) to a meaningful life."

The concept of close
relationships is one most
emphatically supported by the
counselors. On their own time
many maintain contact with the
kids after the formal session is over.
This eliminates the kind of
"teacher-student" relationship that
dominates and stagnates other
organizations.

A second and less obtrusive
objective concerns the younger
teenagers in the program. "We use
teenagers from 13 years and older
as counselor's aides. If they prove
they are responsible and
trustworthy, the older teenagers are
promoted to full-fledged counselors
with children of their own. While
there is always general supervision
by the adult staff members, we give
the teenage counselors as much
freedom of action as good
judgement permits in order to
encourage initiative and teach
leadership." The word seems to be
spreading. Camp Faith has received
letters from as far away as Seattle,
Washington and Pittsfield,
Massachusetts, from volunteers who
want to work.

The third objective is to get the
area residents interacting with their
neighbors from all levels and areas
of the community to "work
together to solve a mutual problem,
namely, the plight of the children
in the program. Whether the
motive is Christian brotherhood, or
community service, or
humanitarian instinct is not
important," Mr. Lowe emphasized.
"What is important is that
everybody in the community is
working together, new lines of
communication are opening,
inter cultural understanding is
growing, concern and commitment
are being generated among many
people who were heretofore self- or
family-centered, incentive and
initiative are being developed
among people who previously have
felt only despair and bitterness, and
all this is coming about naturally
and voluntarily, without stress or
ill feeling.

The camp needs canoes, boats,
life preservers, bathing suits for
children, and sports equipment of
any kind. Camp Faith hopes to
receive these items on a loan or
donation basis within the
community, for either part or all of
the summer. Most of all, however,
the camp needs people. There are
still positions open for volunteers in
all types of positions. The pay is, of
course, nothing, but the feeling
about the work, which is
considerable, has been best
expressed by a black counselor:
"Once you get out there, you
know, you just don't want to come
in." (Anyone interested in a lot of
hard work this summer may
contact Joseph Norris, Jr., a
second-year graduate student at the
University.)

"The guiding principle of Camp
Faith," says Mr. Lowe, "is that
everybody contributes to and
works for the program
commensurate with his resources
and talents. The program rejects
any activity which would constitute
a handout or paternalism. Many of
the families of the campers provide
counselors. Others help in other
ways, such as fund raising within
the means of their neighborhoods,
or making sandwiches for the
camper's lunches."

The spirit that spurs the people
of Camp Faith is one that is hard to
define, if it is indeed at all
definable, but it was probably best
expressed by John Lowe: "If we
are apathetic and unwilling to make
sacrifices by contributing to and
working actively for our
community and the people in it,
then we forfeit our right to
complain about community
problems such as juvenile
delinquency, illiteracy, health
problems, poor government, and
high taxes which grow out of
community apathy."

The people of Camp Faith are
showing the local community one
way out of apathy and the diseases
it breeds. The progress that they
have made clearly shows what
concerned individuals can do if
they really care.