Personal growth happens at summer camp
Growing up spoiled in suburbia — and there’s the title of my autobiography! — I was fortunate enough to get to go to camp. A real camp. It had everything, from tetherball to tennis, arts and crafts to cooking, you name it.
Ask anyone who went to a “real” camp like this, and they’ll tell you it’s one of their best childhood memories. It’s not just fun and games — there’s a lot of personal growth that happens. I can’t put a finger on it, but it’s there. My camp experience definitely helped shape me.
Only problem? Camp is freaking expensive.
“I want my kids to have that camp experience,” said Jamie Bath.
Bath wanted her kids to have what she had as a kid, to have that all-encompassing camp summer. But with her husband in the Army and five kids — twins and triplets, all-natural — there was no way she could afford it. She lives on the base at Fort Dix, and her husband, Johnie, has been stationed in Saudi Arabia for the last year.
“Having five kids, spending money adds up fast,” she said “Food, going to the dentist, everything. Could I afford camp? Well, I have a credit card, but I don’t want to live like that.”
But Bath was determined, and started looking around.
“I heard about Liberty Lake Day Camp, and then looked at the prices, and I may as well have been dreaming,” Bath said.
Yep. Liberty Lake, down in Bordentown, a “real” camp. Very expensive. Such is life.
But Bath poked around and discovered the Liberty Lake Foundation, the charitable arm of the camp that gives out “camperships” to families who could use the help.
“We’ve given out $23,000 in camperships this year,” said Brandi Carnivale, a director of the foundation. “So 23 kids are going to camp this year that wouldn’t have been able to afford it.”
In addition to the foundation, the camp itself will also pitch in and give assistance where it can.
Add it all together, and Zak, Gabe, and Levi Bath, 9-year-old triplets whose father has served his country for the past 23 years and counting, are going to be at Liberty Lake this summer.
“I started the process of applying to the Liberty Lake Foundation in October, and I’m so thankful we were accepted,” Bath said. “It’s so important for me to give my kids everything I can, and without the foundation’s help, I wouldn’t be able to send them to camp.”
Make no mistake — the Liberty Lake Foundation isn’t just handing checks out wily-nily. It’s a process, and they want to make sure to reward children who are already making the right choices.
“There is a financial requirement for families, and we ask for character references,” Carnivale said. “We want to make sure these kids are deserving. They write statements, we look at their grades.”
Carnivale also notes the foundation isn’t just for Liberty Lake — they use the money to help kids who want to go to one of the three YMCA camps in Medford or Fernbrook Nature Camp in Bordentown.
And why do they do this? “We started the foundation because we wanted to take our values and message and apply them 12 months out of the year instead of just eight weeks in the summer,” Carnivale said. “We want kids to get away from screens and start reconnecting. To create friendships, real relationships. We want them to find wonder again in the world. To be responsible, to have independence, to problem-solve. And to connect with actual people.”
As for Bath? Her kids started this week. They couldn’t be happier.
“They get in the car and all they talk about is camp, and they can’t wait until the next day,” Bath said.
For more information about the foundation — or to donate — go to libertylakefoundation.org.
Jeff Edelstein is a columnist for The Trentonian. He can be reached at jedelstein@trentonian.com, facebook.com/jeffreyedelstein and @jeffedelstein on Twitter.