Camp Sacandaga Fund
Donation protected
Hello, I am Jim Tavares, and I have been working with youth for over 30 years. I have worked at a number of camps, and have been the director of two camps for a total of 22 years. For a full bio visit my blog at http://campsacandaga.blogspot.com/2016/03/about-me.html
Ever since I was the Assistant Director at Hidden Valley 4-H Camp all those years ago, I have wanted to eventually own my own camp. Everything I have done since then (for the past 22 years) has been with that goal in mind. After a lot of hard work, negotiations, and false starts, I finally set my dream into motion and signed the papers for Camp Sacandaga in February!
At my last camp I was hired to rebuild the program an increase enrollment. By working with the staff and creating a caring environment, our enrollment went from 525 campers to over 770 campers in just a few years. The camp now has over 900 campers this summer, and has children on waiting lists for some of the sessions. It was alot of hard work, but know I can do that here at Sacandaga.
Everyone says that starting a business is hard, and they were right. Even with decades of experience and so much support, time just wasn’t on my side. Normally, camp recruitment and marketing begins as soon as the previous summer ends. Unfortunately, we had a late start (March) and by then, the many families and organizations that expressed great interest in the new Camp Sacandaga program were already signed up for other summer programs. Our original plan was to open for 4 weeks, but at this time enrollments do not support that.
We just ran out of time!
So, I decided that it was time to circle the wagons and come up with a plan. For the inaugural summer, Camp Sacandaga will be offering 1 weeklong session to model the full summer camp program after. Campers will experience an old-fashioned, traditional summer camp where the can disconnect from technology and reconnect with themselves, each other, and the world around them. Through kindness, respect, and responsibility, campers will gather life skills that kids need to become healthy, productive adults.
In addition to that one week, we will offer a "Mooseling" Camp for children ages 5-8, a "Grown Up" Weekend Camp for campers 21 years and older and a family camp weekend. And we are looking for groups to rent camp and will be doing other fund raising events throughout the year. Watch our facebook page and website for upcoming events
In September we can hit the ground running and have a full year’s worth of time and energy to pour into recruiting for the 2017 summer season. I can use many of the lessons learned from my previous camps to get more campers. And our events will raise money, but it may not cover all of our expenses.
In order to do everything we plan to keep the camp running after the one week program, Camp Sacandaga needs to raise enough money to pay the lease, insurance, marketing and cover the bills. I know that once we start receiving enrollments for next summer we will be financially stable, and we can build from there.
That’s where you come in.
With your help, we can continue to build the program. I will still be pursuing other streams of revenue and loans, but any funds we can raise will help!
I’ve set up many fun rewards and ways we as a camp can thank you for donating. All of you can be an important part of building a new traditional camp program.
Through your generosity, we can make a place where all people feel welcome, and build memories and friendships that can last a lifetime.
We will run this fundraiser for a month and we have set a pretty high goal…but I know we all can do it!
Thank you for reading all of this, and I look forward to you being a part of the future of Camp Sacandaga!"
Ever since I was the Assistant Director at Hidden Valley 4-H Camp all those years ago, I have wanted to eventually own my own camp. Everything I have done since then (for the past 22 years) has been with that goal in mind. After a lot of hard work, negotiations, and false starts, I finally set my dream into motion and signed the papers for Camp Sacandaga in February!
At my last camp I was hired to rebuild the program an increase enrollment. By working with the staff and creating a caring environment, our enrollment went from 525 campers to over 770 campers in just a few years. The camp now has over 900 campers this summer, and has children on waiting lists for some of the sessions. It was alot of hard work, but know I can do that here at Sacandaga.
Everyone says that starting a business is hard, and they were right. Even with decades of experience and so much support, time just wasn’t on my side. Normally, camp recruitment and marketing begins as soon as the previous summer ends. Unfortunately, we had a late start (March) and by then, the many families and organizations that expressed great interest in the new Camp Sacandaga program were already signed up for other summer programs. Our original plan was to open for 4 weeks, but at this time enrollments do not support that.
We just ran out of time!
So, I decided that it was time to circle the wagons and come up with a plan. For the inaugural summer, Camp Sacandaga will be offering 1 weeklong session to model the full summer camp program after. Campers will experience an old-fashioned, traditional summer camp where the can disconnect from technology and reconnect with themselves, each other, and the world around them. Through kindness, respect, and responsibility, campers will gather life skills that kids need to become healthy, productive adults.
In addition to that one week, we will offer a "Mooseling" Camp for children ages 5-8, a "Grown Up" Weekend Camp for campers 21 years and older and a family camp weekend. And we are looking for groups to rent camp and will be doing other fund raising events throughout the year. Watch our facebook page and website for upcoming events
In September we can hit the ground running and have a full year’s worth of time and energy to pour into recruiting for the 2017 summer season. I can use many of the lessons learned from my previous camps to get more campers. And our events will raise money, but it may not cover all of our expenses.
In order to do everything we plan to keep the camp running after the one week program, Camp Sacandaga needs to raise enough money to pay the lease, insurance, marketing and cover the bills. I know that once we start receiving enrollments for next summer we will be financially stable, and we can build from there.
That’s where you come in.
With your help, we can continue to build the program. I will still be pursuing other streams of revenue and loans, but any funds we can raise will help!
I’ve set up many fun rewards and ways we as a camp can thank you for donating. All of you can be an important part of building a new traditional camp program.
Through your generosity, we can make a place where all people feel welcome, and build memories and friendships that can last a lifetime.
We will run this fundraiser for a month and we have set a pretty high goal…but I know we all can do it!
Thank you for reading all of this, and I look forward to you being a part of the future of Camp Sacandaga!"
Organizer
Jim Tavares
Organizer
Lake Pleasant, NY
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