Camp Echo Weekly E-Newsletter Feb 3, 2002 If you want to be removed from this list, reply and let me know. ***** Camp Echo E-List Needs Your Help -------------------------------- The Camp Echo E-List stands at 260 members In the early 1990s we created a computer database using staff and family camp lists going back to the late 1950s. There are over 3,600 names and addresses in that database! That list hasn't been updated since 1994, but we have begun to do so this month. The hope is that we can snail-mail everyone on that list and ask them to submit their e-mail address. We have a ways to go! Meanwhile, you can help. If you are in contact with any members of the Echo family via e-mail, ask them if they are receiving this E-newsletter. Tell them to contact me if they want to be added to the list. Keep it growing! Camp Echo Alumni Board Update ----------------------------- Tom Fischl is heading up the effort to form an Alumni Board. Carolyn Frazier, Sarah Lloyd-Still, and Peter Frankel will join him in this effort. If you would like to join the group let me know. Tom and I met the other day; we are excited about the possibilities. We hope to announce the first event soon. Who's Coming Back to Echo in 2002? ---------------------------------- No staff list would be complete without mentioning Rob Johnston, who is starting his 22nd year at Echo. Rob and I attended a camping conference at Camp Tecumseh in Indiana last month. We picked up many great ideas. Rob's new title is Property Manager, a deserved recognition of the important role he has played at Echo for many years. More on Rob in future issues. Florence Allen and Laurie Marshall will return as First and Second Cooks. The three of us met over the New Years holiday. We're already working on menu planning and new ways to make the already great Echo meals even better. This is the 11th year at Echo for Florence and the 6th for Laurie. Helene Pochopien will return as Head Nurse. It will be her 11th year at Echo. Helene and I had a planning meeting last month. Helene is in the process of contacting nurses from last year and previous years. The session that includes the 4th of July (June 30 - July 12) will be the toughest to staff. Katie Tucker Trippi is on board as Promotions Manager. Katie will be at camp "on and off" this summer since it's an election year and duty calls. Katie first worked for me as an AC when I was Program Director in the late 70s! We hope to offer TP items year-round, making it easier for Echo alumni to sport the latest styles of clothing or display a coffee mug on their desk at work. Teresa Blossom will return to do the Town Run for the third summer. Teresa and I met over New Years and correspond regularly. Teresa is our "Fremont Connection" during the summer and I'm happy she will be with us again. Laura Gageby will return as Wrangler. Laura and I have had two planning sessions. Laura will join me for the Summer Job Fair at Indiana University on February 14th where we will be recruiting their best candidates for Echo. Tom Zwergel will be back at Echo, taking on the role of CIT/LIT Director. Tom spent many years at Echo before doing some traveling (Germany, Maine, Oregon), and currently works in the Youth Lobby at the McGaw YMCA. Tom is perfect for this job and we are working out a two-year program design that will lead directly to staff positions. Peter Frankel, currently a Y Board member, is husband to Tracy and the proud father of Joe. Peter is planning to spend every other week at Echo, taking a major role during Staff Training and helping Tom with the CITs and LITs. Peter's Echo experience goes back to the 1970's and he brings a wealth of experience at other camps around the world with him to Echo. Todd Israelite will return for a guest appearance this summer, running both the Ropes Course Training and the Teen/Trip Staff Training. Todd's experience with the Echo Adventure Trip program is legendary. He's working with me to plan the itineraries and arrange the permits. I've received many applications since my December mailing to over 400 staff and volunteers from recent years. Over the next two months, as contracts are offered and signed, I'll report the results. Meanwhile, here is an alphabetical list of people not mentioned above for whom I have a staff application in hand: Carrie Behrends, Christine Carlsen, Alisa Damholt, Bess Evans, Brigitte Frett, Keisha Geter, Graham Golbuff, Rachel A Goldberg, Rachel D Goldberg, Anna Goldman, Maghan Gordon, Andrew Grancalek, Gus Grancalek, Charlie Gubman, Tom Hodgman, Laura Jaffe, Erin Jones, Emily Kritzler, Brian Lee, Mary Lobo-Gilbert, Nancy Lodding, Christy Lombardi, Annie McKay, Sarasvati Miller, Barbara Morgan, Alex Okrent, Susan Paul, Nicole Pochopien, Tiffany Primus, Tristan Roche, Rebecca Solomon, Shelley Spielman, Gillian Stevens, Lauren Teichner, Thomas Voit, and Missy Walk. If you aren't listed, and you think you've applied, please contact me. Many people have asked me if any of the international (ICCP) staff will be returning and the answer is "yes". Tom Gardner is very interested and he's convinced his friend Ryan Erasmus to apply as well. Others who have expressed interest in returning are Judit Bodnar and Maggie Albini. I've registered with ICCP and will be looking to them for new staff in March or April. Alumni Notes ------------ Send in your news! John Robert (Jack) Allen was born at Evanston Hospital, at 7:59 pm on Wednesday, January 23. He weighed in at 7 lbs, 12.6 oz, and was 21 inches long. He is now at home with his parents in Evanston. His mother (Betsy Donohue Allen) and father (David Allen) met while staff members at Camp Echo. Dave is currently on the Camp Echo Committee. Aunt Sally Courtney is a former Echo Director, and Aunt Kathleen Carey is currently Head Social Worker at Camp Lakewood, the summer camp of the YMCA of St. Louis. Uncle Jerry is Executive Director of YMCA Camps Becket and Camp Chimney Corners, and Uncle Joel is Properties Manager, Catering Director and a bunch of other things at Trout Lodge/Camp Lakewood in Potosi, Missouri. Grandfather John volunteers at Camp Echo. With a family history like that does the kid stand a chance of ever spending a summer in Evanston? Bill Geiger celebrated his 50th birthday (1/29/52) with friends from Illinois and Michigan at Schuler's restaurant in Stevensville on Saturday February 2. Bruce Carmichael presented Bill with a framed original 1968 "Camp Echo Kitchen Staff" T-shirt complete with mustard stains. Anne Gilford brought an original cover from the Evanston Review showing her and Bill as leads in the 1970 Brillianteen Show, Little Mary Sunshine. Sven Wehrwein flew in from Minneapolis and he and Rob Johnston entertained the group with gut-busting stories from Echo's past. Others attending were Rob & Louie Grierson, Steve Gilford, Chris & Cynthia Johnson, Kent & Sherry Smith, Beth Geiger, Terry Carmichael, and Laurie Marshall. Hans Woudman, ICCP counselor from Holland in 1977, is working for Union Bank of Switzerland and lives in Delemont, Switzerland with his wife Francoise, son Bart, and daughter Merane. Hans has passed his interest in soccer on to Bart, who plays with the C-juniors of the FC Courroux. Hans teaches badminton, rides mountain bikes, and plays volleyball and squash. Francoise works at the Vesca company part time. Merane celebrated her 11th birthday in December and is a Britney Spears fan. In March they will move to a nice house in the small village of Vicques. Hans wrote, "Reading your Echo-newspaper, I feel the Echo-spirit again including the horse-barn, Long Lake, the smell of horses, hiking, swim across the lake etc. etc." Wish List --------- If you, or anyone you know, has any of these items to donate, let me know. Dodge Caravan or equivalent 'minivan' for Town Run 60 Quart Floor Mixer for the Kitchen Industrial Strength Food Processor for the Kitchen 6' Rolling Food Warming Cabinet for the Kitchen High Speed Laser Printer (12 pages per minute or better) High Quality Plain Paper Fax Machine (100-200 pages per day) Copier Machine (40-50 pages per day) Laptop Computers (Pentium or G3) Echo History ------------ Over the coming weeks I'll share notes on Echo's history, including "The Birth of Camp Echo at its Present Location" by F. P. Davis, Sr. In 1986 Maggie Wildman collected all the known information about Echo's past and created a wonderful document called "The History of Camp Echo." We know that camping through the Evanston YMCA began at Phantom Lake Wisconsin in 1899, and in subsequent years camps were held on White Lake, Black Lake, Bear Lake, Portage Lake, and Diamond Lake until the present site was purchased in 1923. But when, between 1899 and 1923, was the name "Camp Echo" first used? I went to the Evanston Library and began looking through microfiche of the Evanston Index newspaper starting with 1899. A monthly column called "YMCA Notes" provided this first mention of YMCA camping in the July 21, 1900 issue: "The second section of the YMCA junior encampment returned to Evanston last Saturday, after spending a delightful ten days at Camp Hope on the shores of Phantom Lake, Wisconsin. The delegation numbered 33 boys and 6 leaders. Owing to the number of applicants who asked to go to camp this year, the junior committee of the YMCA concluded to send two divisions to camp for ten days each, instead of having all one party as on former occasions. The camp was under the direction and supervision of Mr. M. C. Otto, the junior secretary at the Milwaukee YMCA, who has occupied this position during the five camps of the Milwaukee boys. Although the camp was a joint one between Milwaukee and Evanston the boys of the first ten days were those from this city only." The mystery of when the name "Camp Echo" was first used remains. Is there anyone out there who would like to pursue the answer? Let me know. Coming Soon: ----------- Winter Projects at Echo Rob Johnston in the Evanston Review Computer, Website, and Internet Plans Feel The Spirit! -- Rob Grierson Camp Echo Director rg@mcgawymca.org 847-475-7400 x259