The Unsung Heroes

During the past week at camp, I was sitting with the summer kitchen staff on the deck of the Copper Country dinning hall, and we had a conversation that not everyone would ever think about having.  We talked about the unsung heroes of camp.

When you think of camp, you probably think of the fun activities, the counselors that take care of and live with the kids, bunk beds, not so hot mattresses, not getting enough sleep, and lots of grilled/fried food.  You might think about the people who run activities like boating/water sports, wall climbing, swimming/life guards, and other activities that could be dangerous no matter how well trained the staff is.  My question is how often do you think of the kitchen staff, the nurses/infirmary staff, the office staff, the grounds crew, the staff that work the camp store, those who sort and get the mail to campers, or the office staff?

Think about camp staff this way:

Without the infirmary staff/nurses, who would make sure that your child's meds were safe and that they got their meds when they needed them?  What would happen if your child had an allergic reaction, broke a bone, or got sick?

What would happen without the office staff?  Who would answer any and all phone calls?  Who would answer all the e-mails?  Who would do all the paper work that has to happen?

If there was no grounds crew, grass would not be mowed, no weed whacking would happen,  no weeding would be done, no one would fix buildings.

Without accommodations, no building would be cleaned.

Without a kitchen staff, what would campers and staff eat?  How would they have the energy to run around having fun at camp?

Without the camp store staff, no one could buy stuff from the camp store.

Without people to sort and pass out mail, you couldn't send a letter to the person you knew that is a camper or a member of the camp staff.

When it comes to camp staff, no one position is better than another.

Here at SpringHill, there isn't one member of the staff who is better than another.  As a staff, each of us have a different role.  Some of us bake cookies.  Some of us fry stuff.  Some of us serve food.  some of us do office work.  Some of us work on the grounds.  Some of us take care of campers.  Some of us deal with sickness, broken bones, allergies, and medications.  Some of us run activities.  We all play an important role in campers lives.

This past week, the rest of the summer kitchen staff and I talked about how without any single one of us, without the rest of the staff here at SpringHill, nothing would run as well as it does.  As a group, we agreed that there are certain "departments" at camp that tend to be forgotten on a regular basis.  We called the people that work in these areas the unsung heroes.  These are the people that are rarely thanked for their hard work, who are forgotten about, and who aren't always seen as equal to the counselors.  These are those who work in mail, who work at the camp store, who work in the office, who work in the infirmary, and those who work in the kitchen.

Last summer, I rarely heard a thank you from anyone for the hard work that I put in in the kitchen, and I was okay with it most of the time.  There were times when I'd look around on closing day, and see all these parents saying thank you to the counselors.  I never heard a thank you from a parent last summer.  The highlight last summer was a Friday morning when I was sweeping the dinning hall floor, and a group of boys came over to say thank you, and one of them proceeded to shake my hand and give me a hug.

This summer, I've been lucky enough to get to go out into the dinning hall most every day during lunch to hand out dessert to the campers and counselors.  Seeing the faces of fourth through sixth graders light up when they saw the dessert I was delivering to their table has already been more than enough of a thanks for the number of hours I put in on a daily and weekly basis.  Just yesterday, as I said goodbye to the girls I had worked with for the past two weeks, one of the girls handed me a note she had written.  She told me to wait to read it until later.  After the girls were gone, and I was standing around waiting for the high school staff end of week meeting to happen, I read the note, and began crying.  She had written a note just to thank me and tell me how I had helped her in her faith walk.  Reading that note was a reminder that even when I don't get thanked by campers and/or parents, I still can have an impact on the people around me by showing up and being myself.

The next time you pick a child up from any camp, or are at a camp for any reason, say thank you to the staff.  Be sure to thank all of the staff.  Most of all, be sure to thank the unsung heroes.  After all, these are the people who make the parts of camp that no one thinks of as just important as the counselors.