The Best Summer of Your Life
Congratulations to to our own Steve “Chad” Chadwin who will be honored as a “Coaching Legend” by Coaches vs. Cancer on April 5th. Here’s the link for those who would like to attend or make a donation in Chad’s honor. Yo Chad! Way to go! We are proud of you!
http://coaches.acsevents.org/site/Calendar?id=121335&view=Detail
53 years ago today, Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a single basketball game. Did you know that before Wilt was famous, he worked in the kitchen at PFC!? He was actually “asked to leave”, but later came back to visit after much fame and fortune.
Some remember that when Wilt rode a horse out on Route 6 (not allowed nowadays) his feet would drag on the ground! We’re guessing that if Wilt played in one of our counselor basketball games today, he’d likely score 100 points again.
Here he is signing autographs and posing with Uncle Marv & Mickey.
Congratulations to our own PFC athletic Director Steve ”Chad” Chadwin on reaching his 600th win as coach of Abington Friends School. His Kangaroos have won 16 league titles. As Chad said when interviewed after the big win by the Philadelphia Inquirer, “No one person was bigger than the program…we’ve had kids who are able to buy into the team concept.” In his own humble way Chad always credits the group, but he is truly an outstanding individual leader, at school and at camp each summer at Pine Forest.
And Congratulations to Michael Silverman, Pine Forest alumni, old-timer and PFC parent who was sworn in as Mayor of the town of Livingston, New Jersey over the winter break last week. Michael has been a leader ever since his days as a General in Color War at PFC back in the 70’s. As Michael said, “I talk about camp and my experiences in so many of my speeches and talks….the PFC family has shaped my life in many ways… PFC is more than camp – it is LIFE”. We salute you Michael, for your commitment to public service and for your bonds with Pine Forest Camp.
Pine Forest Camp = Leadership.
I went to PFC in the late 80‘s/early 90’s. I started as a high senior 9 and continued on for the next 5 years into the counselor years. Some of the best years of my life thus far. I stopped only because it was time to get an internship “in the real world.” It was not my choice, that’s for sure.
Fast forward many years, I am now a Mom of two childen at PFC…a13 year old girl, who will start her fifth summer as a high senior 9 and a 10 year old boy going into his second summer as an Inter 5. I was an Inter 5 counselor and some of my then campers now have kids at camp as well! How old that makes us all feel goes without saying!
When we started our family camp search, we researched a few camps. I told myself what was right for me may not be right for my children. PIne Forest was all I wanted for them but I tried to be fair and open. It was my daughter who knew right away that Pine Forest was for her. Perhaps her 2nd generation status wooed her a bit, but she said she just got “a feeling” the second she saw PFC. She’s so my kid.
As I tell my children, PFC was my happy place for many years in my youth but it’s now theirs. I try not to bombard them with memories and stories and resist the urge to point out pictures of me on the Hughie and dining hall walls. They’re building their own memories now and the time is all theirs. But as I’ve learned, PFC is still a place in all of our hearts. The same incredible Black family still owns and runs it, 5 generations, 85 years strong. A lot of course has changed with the times, but so much has remained the same. Just how we would want it to be.
Sometimes you don’t know how much something means to you until you come back again and see it through the eyes of your children. I encourage you to give camp a call, check out their website, schedule a meeting with one of the team and consider giving your child the gift of PFC, just as your parents did. Give yourself the thrill of a lifetime, getting to watch your child walk the same hills, play on the same fields and sit in the same Netsy benches for Friday night services as you did! It really is a rare and special gift, not only for your children, but for yourself!
– Hillary Lane Slovin
This is the magic of camp. Of all the activities, the smells, the tastes…The best part of camp is the friends. Memories that last well beyond the summer. All over the east coast this past weekend, just coincidentally, camp friends gathered together simply because they missed each other. At suburban homes, city street festivals, college campuses…All over! This is why we go to camp.
We invite you to schedule a one-on-one, interactive family tour of camp, led by one of our awesome camp leaders. You'll meet our owners/directors and learn more about our amazing, 93-year camp history and traditions. Come feel the love and warmth that Pine Forest Camp has to offer! Email to coordinate!