The Best Summer of Your Life
Today is the USTA Tournament!
Campers from all over come to participate in singles and double competitions. On days like today, campers are reminded to “Keep Playing Tennis,” Marvin Black’s mantra. The game of tennis is a lifetime skill and Pine Forest has a fantastic program headed up by tennis pro, Craig Wallace.
Let the games and the fun begin!
Pura Vida!
Our 11th graders have landed in Costa Rica and adventure (And service learning! And leadership!) awaits! They’re off with their peers from Camp Timber Tops and Lake Owego Camp to explore a new place and grow as leaders! They’ll begin their experience in Costa Rica with a whitewater rafting trip down the Pacuare River. After a few workshops and bonding experiences, our campers will work together and utilize their (New!) Spanish skills to create and run a summer day camp for local children who would not otherwise have access to a camp experience. They’ll develop meaningful connections with their campers through fun, engaging, and team building activities. We can’t wait until they come back to camp and share what they’ve learned!
The secret is out!
This week Senior and Hi-Senior girls got the names of their “little sisters.” It was up to them to provide clues as to who they are. Is that a note under my pillow? A bracelet in my cubby? Who made my bed for me? Last night was the BIG REVEAL: Older campers identified themselves to their little sisters at a multi-dimentional evening activity!
It was a great few days of mystery and excitement!
Today we baked Challah with Barbara Black to support Challah for Hunger — our Pine Forest Camp campers will be donating the Challah we make every week to a fundraiser benefitting Kids Food Pantry, Lake Wallenpaupak High School. Just another one of the ways we’ll be focusing on the world outside of the “camp bubble” here in Greeley, PA.
Basketball leagues have begun!
The campers have divided into teams and begun the first games of the 2019 league program. Intramural leagues were started at Pine Forest back in the 1960’s by Stan Ward, coach of Brown University and taken to a new and exciting level by our own award-winning Athletic Director Steve Chadwin. Every division is divided into equal teams and there’s all-out competition until at the end of the summer one team in each division is crowned champion. It’s fun, it’s high energy, and the winners get their names inscribed forever in Hughie Hall. (Named after Hughie Black, our own basketball star.) It’s Hoops time!
TOP Cooks + Tacos!
Our TOP Cooks campers spent the morning at Foundry 42 in Port Jervis, NY. They worked under Chef Cooper Boone making tacos, fresh guacamole, and fresh salsa! To top it all off, they accompanied their meal with a homemade mango rosemary water.
The best part? Meeting a Foundry 42 patron that happened to have been a Pine Forest camper over fifty years ago! There’s a reason we’re celebrating our 89th summer this season!
Radar’s Landing, Bill’s Loading Dock
It’s the behind-the-scene people that make camp work and today we celebrated Bill “Radar” Sandlin, who for 20 years has ruled over the PFC loading dock and warehouse. Everything from paddle boards to pasta comes through those doors and Bill keeps an eye on it all. So, be it acclaimed throughout the land, that from this day forward the PFC loading dock will forever be called Radar’s Landing, Bill’s Loading Dock, with love and appreciation.
Good morning, Pine Forest Camp!
Maybe it’s the new smell of pines trees or the first bird you hear, but when you wake up at camp it’s awesome. Look to your left, look to your right and there are camp friends right next to you. Can life get any better?
Okay, the bad news is that you still have to brush your teeth, but it’s gonna be a day like no other. You’re at camp! You’ve made it through your first night, the clouds part, the sun shines , the worries disappear, the fun starts!
Our 89th consecutive summer begins NOW and it’s going to be the best one ever. Leave your worries at home. When you step off of that bus or out of your car, you’re going to be stepping into a summer of Pine Forest fun, “Up where the sky begins.”
It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from or how you get here. It doesn’t matter what happened all school year long. If your destination is Pine Forest Camp in Greeley, Pennsylvania today, you are in for the summer of your life.
As we sing every year on opening day, “We welcome you to Pine Forest, we’re mighty glad you’re here!”
And we are. Mighty glad.
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, 95-year camp history and traditions. Come feel the love and warmth that Pine Forest Camp has to offer! Email hillary@pineforestcamp.com to coordinate!
