By: “H” Rothenberg Owner/Director

I just realized I have not written a BLOG post since the beginning of camp.  Have we really been that busy that I couldn’t sit down for 20 minutes and share all the haps?  Fortunately, we have Skooby to put up daily videos during the summer and families can see all that is happening at Triple C EVERY DAY!

Camp is a magical place where a day seems like a week, and a week seems like a day.  This is a very strange sensation and I can’t think of too many other places in the world that I could say that about.  The time goes by so fast.  However, we get so much done in a day as we have so many staff and the most amazing campers….it does seem like each day is a week.

As for moving forward, this BLOG post is about a month over due as we have been hosting school groups, corporate groups, scout programs, nature and science activities and so much more.  It’s pretty exciting to get to share our property with so many.  For example, this Saturday, we have Hospice of the Piedmont coming with about 30 children who have had a death in their family.  This is a very therapeutic program that allows Hospice Staff to work with camp staff to give the children a special experience and memories of their loved one in a safe fun environment.

We are fortunate each fall that many of our summer staff stick around and help us with fall programs.  This fall has been no different.  Ben Ward, Ben Pewton, Jake Woods, Travis Yuille Tom Greenwood, Ian Camper, Ryan Rothenberg, and others have been around camp helping with fall programming.  It is so reassuring to have such professional staff helping us and people who know the camp property and the programs so well.  Of course Shannon Myers our Assistant Director helps me with all these programs and she is such a valuable asset.

As we get deeper into the fall, we will start talking to some of our former campers that were in the EDGE program last fall about coming back to camp as a staff member.  We also here from past staff about their desire to return.  This continues to be a special spot in our hearts as the key to the success of the camp is the Counselors.

As for me and Libby, we want to thank not only the children for an amazing summer of 2014, but the parents who choose to partner with us each year.  It takes a village to raise a child and we are fortunate to be involved in so many children’s lives.  I humbly say, “THANK YOU!”

 

By: “H” Rothenberg  Co Owner/Director

You may remember the winter of 2009.  On a cold, wintery, snowy morning Libby and I woke up to a loud noise outside our bedroom window that sounded like a car accident on route 20. It was not a car accident…after looking out the window we saw the camp “STUDIO” had completely collapsed due to snow load.  This was such a bummer. I got dressed, went outside and walked around the now demolished building.  There were pieces of glass, timber, crayons and t-shirts everywhere.  My next thought was about the other buildings in camp.  I did a quick inspection and realized that the Dining Hall was collapsing.  The roof was falling in and the walls were pushing out.  We contacted a friend who is a contractor who quickly came to our rescue.  We put up large 6×6’s to support the building up…which worked.  Alas, the Studio had collapsed, but we saved the Dining Hall.

The next day we had the builder who had rebuilt cabin 5 (TEAL Construction) come and work with us on estimates to repair the Dining Hall and completely rebuild the Studio. Our insurance company wasn’t happy, however they did help us through the process. We found out the Dining Hall really needed a tremendous amount of work and we needed it ready for camp in quick time.  Uggggghhhhhh….. TEAL was amazing!  They got the snow off the roof, removed the old roof, straightened the walls, put in reinforcement studs, and put on a new roof.  Then put in insulation so that if we ever winterized the Dining Hall, we are set to go there.   Then re painted the entire building.  WOW!  The Dining Hall looks amazing.  Little things got done too like new electrical wiring as the old wiring was cloth and the current code made things much safer for our campers.

When it came to the Studio, we were going to start from scratch, so the builder asked us what we wanted our plan to be? We had just started Green Adventure Project a non profit 501c3 on the grounds of TRIPLE C CAMP. We looked at this as a great opportunity and began to mix the lemonade!

We worked with TEAL and Albemarle County to build a new Green Building along with EarthCraft on our property. We now call it the NEST (Nature Environment Science & Technology).  Campers and year round participants have a home base on the property for Nature and Science programming.  Inside the NEST there is a giant Newton’s Cradle made with bowling balls, trebuchets, loads of animals especially my buddy Hercules who is a Red Footed Tortoise.  There is also a teaching mural with over 85 different plants and animals that are indigenous to central Virginia. This is a great teaching opportunity where we begin to learn inside and then the magic really happens when we go outside to learn on our 43 acres on our fields, streams, creeks, etc.  If camp families or corporations are interested, they can sponsor an animal by trophic level and these dollars help with Green Adventure Project Scholarships.

This whole experience was a learning and growing opportunity for us.  Stuff happens.  When it does, don’t freak out about it.  Figure out what you can and make it better. Physically, emotionally, and experientially.  And remember to enjoy the lemonade…come to the NEST, it tastes so good!

 

By: “H” Rothenberg Triple C Camp Co-Owner and Director

Day Camps in the United States take on many different looks based on who operates the camp program.

Some examples:

There are health clubs, park districts, YMCA, etc. who operate day camps. There are schools/Universities that operate day camps. There are child care centers that operate day camps, and there are TRADITIONAL DAY CAMPS that have people focusing on the camp all year long. The Traditional Day Camp is the best experience for children as the Directors are focused on camp all year long and truly building a relationship with the families to grow and develop the child. Operating a program to grow and develop children takes very serious work and focus. Many people look at a day camp as a child care opportunity to have the child cared for while the parents are at work. There is an opportunity for so much more. Traditional Day Camps are Child Development Organizations. Camps typically operate during the summer Monday – Friday from 9:00am – 3:00pm. Many camps offer an early drop off or a late pick up to accommodate individual family’s schedules.

As a Child Development Organization there MUST be a commitment to raise the whole child. The idea is to learn how to become a better person, a better friend, and a better citizen. When a child learns these skills they can become a better member of the society. Without these skills it is much harder to be a valued part of the community. Schools in the United States are currently focused on the standards of learning testing and do not put emphasis on the “life skills”. Most parents do not know how to or do not have time to focus on child development with their children. This leaves a great opportunity and responsibility for the Traditional Day Camp.

The traditional Day Camp Director focuses on hiring the proper staff. Staff is the key to the success of any program working with children. In addition to hiring the proper staff an excellent day camp must have very good ratios of campers to staff. To grow and develop the children into better people through activities such as sports, arts & crafts, drama, nature, horseback riding, swimming, animal activities, it is helpful for the camp to have about a 5:1 ratio of campers to staff. Each group should have about 15 campers with about 2-3 staff members. Also, an activity specialist at each area of the camp to focus on specific activities. This means that there are 3-4 staff members for 15 children. Excellent ratios and support for the children. If there are activity specialists, then the camp counselor can focus on children while the specialist focuses on the activity. The activities above are just examples. They can be any activities, however it is CRITICAL to have the right people who really care for the growth and development of the children be the group counselors/child development specialists.

Once the staff are hired and facility is prepared, the next step is to have a minimum of one week of training for the staff to come together. The staff must understand the safety expectations and all of the camp management procedures from risk management, to transportation to discipline.

Camp is for the campers. The most important thing at camp is SAFETY, however directly behind it is FUN! Make sure the campers are having fun and have enjoyable activities. This is where the most growth is seen with the activity, and the behavior. At most Traditional Day camps in the United States, the children have swimming every day (Pool or lake). For younger children (5-9 years old) this would include a daily swim lesson and also each day some free play in the swimming pool. As the children get older (10+) it is ok to have a recreational game before the free swim. Proper Life Guarding staff and swim instructors is critical to the safety of the swimming experience.

As for the beginning of the day, once the campers arrive it is nice to have an all camp welcome and morning announcements. This could also include a flag raising ceremony with bugle calls, honor and respect. After the flag, each group goes in their own direction based on a well thought out pre planned schedule. Some groups will go to the sports specialist while another will go to the swimming and some go to ride horses, etc. This activity schedule continues in 35 minute intervals until lunch time around 11:30am. After lunch, many camps offer a relax time where the child can read a book, play a quiet game with a friend, or the staff will read a story. It is important that the staff is present, and also important that the children are not required to sleep, just relax. In the afternoon, more activities will take place. The 35 minute activity time is enough to keep the activity exciting, fun and not lose focus before moving on to the next event.

As the day comes to a close, the camp will gather again for a flag lowering ceremony. Before the flag is lowered, there is an opportunity for the groups to present a song, dance, cheer or skit that they have worked on to share with the rest of the camp. This is very important (as the morning opening) so that there is a sense of community for the children and the staff members.

After the closing ceremony children will be loading buses, be picked up by parents, and be sad that the day is coming to an end. They will also be very tired. It is critical that the staff members keep focused on the children’s well-being and coach them through the end of the day experience to maximize the good feelings and growth that took place during the day. Notes or phone calls home to parents about successes are very appropriate. If there were health or behavior concerns during the day, the camp director should directly call the family to make them aware.

Most Traditional Camps in the U.S. have a minimum of one week sessions for about eight weeks and there are even some that operate one eight week session. The more continuity the children have the more growth that is seen.

By: “H” Rothenberg Triple C Camp Co-Owner and Director

“I have a new idea for a program!” This is a statement my wife hears from me on a regular basis. We have owned our own private camp in central Virginia since 1999. Having gone through the process of searching for a camp (we toured over 100 camps) finding “the one” and then agreeing to a purchase price with the sellers, getting bank financing, moving our family, and closing on property/business, we thought we were home free.

As the years went on we always looking to find more ways to generate revenue. In 2001 we built a ropes course to host year round groups and utilize for team building and high climbing during the summer. This was fantastic! We were bringing in much more money than we were spending for the ropes program as my wife and I were facilitating groups with very few part time staff and we were making use of the facility in the spring and the fall. We also did in school team building programs at 20 local Elementary, Middle and High Schools in our area. A decade later we were continuing to look for other revenue streams. We LOVE the Green Movement. We believe in “No child left inside!” We want to make an impact and some $$ along the way.

Teachers love the idea of field trips for Environmental Science and it helps the teachers with the standardized testing. However, the money for Science program dollars is a bit harder to come by. The process starts with approaching a teacher to participate in one of our field investigations. These are offered three to five times a year as a teach the teacher opportunity. If the teacher is interested we outline the costs, identify a date and work with the teachers to find sources of funding to help offset the costs. Teachers as well as GAP staff seek funding opportunities reducing student tuition rates. This opportunity and interest from the teachers and community moved us in the direction of forming a not for profit.

In 2008, the Green Movement was in full swing we wanted to make our camp more marketable and cutting edge to our community and the region. The Green Adventure Project (GAP) was born. We made dramatic changes to our property and program regarding going green.

1. We removed all Styrofoam from the camp! We provide lunch for our campers and do not have a commercial dish washer. This was a lot easier than we thought it would be…the parents LOVE IT and the campers are ok with it. They do their own. It teaches responsibility and a great life skill that they got from camp.

a. Replaced with plastic cups and plates. This was very easy and reasonably priced. Plate dividers and sturdy plates from Wal Mart four for $1.00 and they came in great diverse colors. Kids love them!

b. Campers now wash, rinse and sanitize their own plates, cups and cutlery at washing stations behind our dining hall. Easy set up, however after the meal, the kitchen staff have to review every item and very often will wipe the plates clean. We have dry bags and hang them for a few hours, however we usually wind up hand drying…no biggie!

2. Removed water coolers with cone cups.

a. We request that all campers bring a water bottle to camp and carry it with them around camp.

b. We installed more drinking fountains for accessibility to water. This is pretty fantastic. We even have water bottle filling stations outside our well house that say, “Dasani, Aqua fina, and Deer Park” … people ask us all the time if that is “really” those waters outside our well and we leave it to them to decide! 🙂

3. Added rain barrels all around our camp for education and non potable water use.

a. Especially when we have been dry, we use the rain barrel water for plants, animals, washing animals like horses, and other activities where the water can be used safely.

b. Amazing teaching opportunity to what children can do at home or at school and how much water can be harvested and reused from rain.

4. Added composting and a waste reduction program at our meals (eat what you take, and we weigh waste, and give a prize at the end of the week to the least wasteful cabin group). We actually have groups that have zero waste. It’s important that the staff are bought into this for the right reasons. It’s nice to win a contest, however the counselors should not be the campers “garbage disposal” for food the campers don’t eat. Not the right message.

5. We added many recycling bins around camp for all aspects of recycling and some of our oldest campers take the recycling to the local collection site in town once week. The community loves this as when the campers are there…they help people unload their cars of all their recycling.

6. Built garden boxes and grow edibles for our campers while also teaching about growth and sustainability. The campers work in the gardens and get to see the reward on the dining hall buffet.

7. Replaced a rustic 1950’s snow weight damaged building with a state of the art EarthCraft Certified green Educational Center. There are so many amazing aspects of this building. Teaching opportunities EVERYWHERE! A bowling ball Newtons Cradle, loads of reptiles from out of the area that the children can handle(turtle, tortoise, leopard geckos, bearded dragons, etc., trebuchets, a 28X40 animal teaching mural of indigenous animals, and so much more! If you want to invest in a science center, come see ours!

Next, we started speaking to schools in the area to find out if they were interested in partnering for outdoor nature and science programs that would help them teach to the Standardized testing (teachers love that). We found several teachers and a few advocates from the Superintendent’s Office that were very excited about this possibility.

Curriculum is aligned to state standards. We created a program menu for teachers based on topics taught to specific ages. We invested in an Executive Director and Program Director who are experienced in developing curriculum. GAP works with six counties and thirty plus schools at this time.

The biggest obstacle was cost. So, at the same time we approached a local attorney that focused on not for profits. This was a bit intimidating since most Camp Directors don’t have an attorneys back ground and we don’t like attorneys fees. So, we tried to negotiate a set fee for setting up our not for profit. This worked out pretty well.

We found an attorney that told us it would be no problem to start a not-for profit, however everything would have to be done at “arm’s length”. We needed to keep things from our private business/summer camp (s-corp) completely separate from anything we were doing with the not for profit. So, we set up a separate ledger in Quick Books for my wife who is our CFO and kept all income and expenses for the Green Adventure Project completely separate. We were committed to doing everything the right way, so we followed the attorneys advice. Things we needed to do:

1. All items of incorporation through the government: the attorney was very helpful with this. The right attorney is the key to make this happen. One that is understanding about starting a new not for profit

2. File for nonprofit status: this was also done by the attorney which presented documents for us to sign

3. Make an adjustments requested by IRS such as:

a. Separate the website for Green Adventure Project

b. Establish a phone line for Green Adventure Project

4. Establish a board of directors and manuals, etc

a. We interviewed camp parents and community folks that have an interest in the Green Movement

b. It is very helpful to have a banker and a local Science Teacher on our Board of Directors

5. Hire an independent real estate appraisal company do a fair market analysis of what rent would be for a program like this in our area. This was a big deal and very expensive, however we needed this to justify our s-corp charging rent to the Green Adventure Project. We are three years in and we have not received rent yet, however the system is in place and the bottom line of the GAP improves.

6. Organize, interview and hire the proper staff to organize the programs and operate fund raising. This is incredibly difficult to find qualified staff that can teach the Green Programs and can write grants and handle all the fund raising. It is a constant challenge for our staff to decide to prioritize program service and revenue to fund raising/grant monies. We made use of the ACA job board and bi-weekly professional jobs available. We got about 30 applications which took time to sift through and then interviewed about 10. All very time consuming, but worth it when you find someone who can run programs and handle administrative work. It’s critical to have staff that will put in extra hours so that after that three day canoe trip and a grant is due the next day, they will still put in the time.

7. Cultivate and develop relationships with granting organizations and public donors. This is also very difficult. When an organization is young, it does not have enough weight under its belt to be credible to some donor organizations, however to serve more participants, we need the funds. It is a bit of a catch 22, however if you are committed to the program service, we believe (and hope) that the funding will come. We also attend meetings and trainings offered by organizations that are connected to funding bodies. Great opportunity to network and build relationships.

During 2010 Green Adventure Project (GAP) served 500 participants and grew to 1500 in 2011 and will serve 5000+ in 2012. The program numbers are very exciting. The program however barely breaks even financially and will rely on grants and fundraising to stay in the black and pay the staff and the property rent appropriately. It is very difficult for a new 501c3 to get grant money, however we are diligently working toward growing our program base to be more attractive to donors.

Our for profit entity benefits from the public relations in the community, bringing more people to the camp property and when it can, GAP will pay rent. GAP benefits from renting space at the camp as the camp already had vehicles for travel programs, supplies, buildings, infrastructure, etc. A not for profit program takes a while to get established. We are serving many more participants then we were previously and the quality of program is FANTASTIC! Areas of challenge include: finding the right part time staff, fund raising and receiving grants.

Any for profit entity that wants to take on operating a not for profit needs to think long and hard about all the up front expenses, staffing and infrastructure of a new organization. This includes strategic planning, organizing with banks, accountants, attorneys and the staff for the private entity.

If the program is quality and the participants are served well there is no better feeling in the world then helping those grow through an experience that they would never have had the opportunity to participate with otherwise.

If you are interested in more information about the Green Adventure Project, or starting a Not for profit, please contact “H” Rothenberg Co-Owner and Director of Triple C Camp in Charlottesville, VA