Summer Day Camp Final Production

Written by: Kate Snyder, Executive Assistant

I have to say that, as a general rule, I don’t find random kids all that cute. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything against them – I don’t loathe them in a mean, Hansel and Gretel, fairy-tale-witch kind of way. I just don’t swoon every time I’m faced with a child, like some people do. (Quite frankly, I find those Anne Geddes pictures with the babies in flowerpots a little bit unsettling.) All of this to say that I walked into the final production of Summer Day Camp last night with some trepidation – the prospect of two hours spent watching a bunch of kids I didn’t know marching around on stage did not fill me with unabashed glee.

But that was before I knew there was dancing. Because I think we can all agree that the universal exception to the “other people’s kids aren’t that cute” rule is when they’re dancing. The first act up was a bunch of six to eight year olds rocking out to a very upbeat song and I just about died. It was fabulous! And let me tell you – those kids had moves. They were up there doing complicated choreography, and doing it well.

And the show just go better from there. The campers and counselors had worked hard and pulled together a very impressive performance in five short weeks and it was a joy to witness. The theme of Camp this year was “God is Good” and all the songs, poems, dances, and skits revolved around this theme. The dance and song numbers were interspersed with an on-going drama about several teens and their families who were learning to appreciate, in their own awkward ways, the goodness of God.

For me, though, the most touching moment of the night came just before intermission when we took up a collection from the audience to support the Day Camp program. Our associate director, who has been working with this program for 25 years, is an ordained minister and a dynamic preacher. He said a few words about the history and importance of Day Camp and then we passed around collection plates. And everyone gave. I’m serious. I was helping with the offering and I did not see a single family skip the plate. These families are almost entirely low income – that’s just the demographic that we work with. Many of them only had a dollar or two to give, and yet their generosity and their obvious love for this program and its staff was really overwhelming.

So I’ll be there in the audience again next year, cheering on the children of strangers and reveling in the amazing things that can be accomplished by dedicated and caring people.